•* 


NeiD-Clmrch  Popular  Series, 


[No.  9. 


TKE 


GARDEJ^  of  EDE]^: 


GIVING 


THE  SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  AND 
TRUE  MEANING  OF  THE  STORY. 


BY 


Rev.  JOHN  DOUGHTY, 

Author  of  "The  #okld  Feyond."    ' 


PHILADELPHIA- 

SWEDEXBORG  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION, 

900    Chestnut   Street. 


*  f     r      t 


'  f    f    c  «  c   c    •    c 


COLLINS,  PRINTER. 

G4FTOF 

iiancrott 
LIBRARY 


PREFACE. 


[JJ^T  the  present  day  there  is  not  much  openly 
vfe^  avowed  infidelity  in  Christian  lands.  But 
'^^^^^  there  are  reasons  for  believing  that  there 
exists  a  vast  amount  of  it  in  a  latent  form,  and  no 
inconsiderable  portion  even  in  the  churches  them- 
selves. 

And  since  it  prevails  among  some  of  the  most 
thoughtful  and  honest  people,  the  questions,  What 
is  the  cause  of  it  ?  and  How  is  it  to  be  effectually 
remedied?  deserve  the  serious  consideration  of 
every  friend  of  mankind,  and  especially  of  every 
teacher  of  the  Christian  religion. 

The  chief  cause  undoubtedly  is,  the  mistaken 
idea  in  regard  to  the  Sacred  Scripture  and  the 
method  bv  which  its  true  meaning  is  to  be 
elicited,  which  has  become  so  prevalent  through- 
out the  bounds  of  Christendom.  This  idea  is, 
that  the  written  Word  has  but  one  meaning,  and 
that,  the  meaning  conveyed  to  the  natural  under- 


iv  Preface. 

standing-  by  the  natural  or  sensuous  interpretation 
of  the  words  of  Scripture. 

By  this  false  but  prevalent^method,  the  Bible  is 
reduced  to  the  level  of  a  human  composition,  is 
robbed  of  its  Divine  spirit  and  life,  and  much  of 
it  made  to  teach  what  every  rational  mind  sees  to 
be  very  unreasonable — some  of  it  unintelligible 
and  even  puerile.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that 
questions  like  the  following",  which  Mr.  Ingersoll 
is  reported  to  have  asked  in  a  recent  lecture,  should 
arise  in  many  thoughtful  minds : 

"  Is  there  any  intelligent  man  or  woman  now 
in  the  world,  who  believes  in  the  Garden  of  Eden 
story  [literally  interpreted]  ?  "  "  Does  any  human 
being  now  believe  that  God  made  man  of  dust, 
and  a  woman  of  a  rib,  and  put  them  in  a  garden, 
and  put  a  tree  in  the  middle  of  it  ?  Was  n't  there 
room  outside  of  the  garden  to  put  his  tree  if  He 
did  n't  want  people  to  eat  his  apples  ?  If  I  did  n't 
want  a  man  to  eat  my  fruit,  I  would  not  put  him 
in  my  orchard." 

What,  then,  is  the  remedy  ?  We  know  of  but 
one ;  and  that  is,  to  teach  people  the  real  nature 
and  purpose  of  Holy  Scripture — to  show  them 
wherein  its  divinity  consists,  what  is  the  law  that 


Preface.  "^ 

governs  in  a  truly  divine  composition,  and  what 
the  method  therefore  by  which  its  true  meaning 
is  to  be  unfolded.  All  of  which  is  so  fully  and 
clearly  revealed  in  the  writings  of  Emanuel  Swe- 
denborg,  that  every  one  who  carefully  and  prayer- 
fully examines  these  writings,  is  sure  to  see  it. 
And  the  Christian  ministers  who  refuse  or  neg- 
lect to  do  so,  are  left  without  excuse,— and  will 
continue,  however  unintentionally  and  uncon- 
sciously, to  foster  the  growing  skepticism  of  our 

times. 

The  purpose  of  this  little  volume  is,  to  lift  the 
reader's  mind  above  the  sensuous  plane  of  thought, 
and  to  show  him,  by  a  method  of  interpretation 
applicable  alike  to  all  other  parts  of  Scripture,  the 
spiritual  and  true  meaning  of  that  old  Garden  of 

Eden  story. 
1* 


CONTENTS. 


I.  PAGE 

The  Garden 9 

n. 

The  Two  Trees 26 

III. 
The  W03IAN 44 

lY. 
The  Serpent 61 

V. 

The  Forbidden  Fruit 77 

VI. 
The  Curse 94 

YII. 
The  Expulsion 110 

YIII. 
The  FLA3IING  Savord 126 

IX. 

The  Eestoration 141 

vu 


The  Garden  of  EdeiN^. 


I. 

THE  GARDEN. 

And  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden  cast- 
tvard  in  Eden ;  and  there  he  put  the  man 
whom  he  had  formed.— Gen.  ii.  8. 

JHE  figures  of  the  Bible  put  together  by  the 
rigid  rules  of  arithmetic,  inform  us  that  the 
world  was  created  about  six  thousand  years 
ago  ;  but  science  with  its  unanswerable  logic  fixes 
the  time  of  its  creation  some  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  years  earlier.     The  letter  of  Genesis  de- 
clares that  it  was  spoken  into  existence  by  the  fiat 
of  an  almighty  God,  and  completed  in  seven  days ; 
but   science   asserts   that  countless  ages  elapsed 
from  the  beginning  of  the  earth  to  the  period 
when  it  became  fit  for  human  life.     The  Bible 
seems  to  teach  that  we  are  all,  of  whatever  color 
or  conformation,   descendants   of  the   one  man, 
Adam;  but  science  casts  a  doubt  upon  this  ap- 
parent teaching,   which  almost  amounts  to  cer- 
tainty.    Hence  religion  and  science  are  in  con- 
flict ;  and   the  skeptical   mind  which   is  born  to 

9 


10  27^6  Garden  of  Eden. 

dcnbt,  and  bap  f!(5u(;a;tesl  itself  to  deny  what  is  not 
scientifically  prO'VeCi,  condemns  religion  and  sides 
with  scienbe,  and  floats  Off,  full  often  honestly 
enough,  from  its  own  standpoint,  into  the  un- 
known seas  of  unbelief  and  the  dark  ocean  of 
infidelity. 

And  common  sense  comes  in  to  have  its  say. 
The  Bible  seems  to  hinge  the  whole  fate  of  the 
human  race,  for  countless  ages,  on  the  eating  of 
the  fruit  of  a  single  tree  by  one  human  pair.  It 
seems  to  place  our  heavenl}^  Father  in  the  posi* 
tion  of  having  set  a  snare  for  the  first  created 
man  and  woman,  which  they  were  not  endued 
with  strength  to  resist.  It  presents  to  us  a  talk- 
ing serpent  with  powers  of  apt  persuasion.  It 
affirms  that  the  man  and  his  wife  were  so  blind 
that  they  could  not  even  behold  their  own  naked- 
ness until  the  eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit  brought 
it  to  their  sight.  It  makes  sorrow  and  toil  and 
pain  and  death  for  all  mankind,  even  into  the  un- 
known ages,  dependent  on  a  single  act  of  two 
untutored  individuals,  of  which  their  myriad  chil- 
dren were  all  innocent. 

Thus  the  narrative  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  be- 
comes so  confused  and  incredible,  that  common 
sense  is  either  forced  to  give  way  to  a  childlike 
faith  in  what  is  written,  or  to  throw  to  the  winds 
all  confidence  in  Bible  history.  But  can  true  sci- 
ence and  true  religion  ever  part  company  ?     Can 


The  Garden,  11 

common  sense  and  revelation  be  really  at  variance  ? 
Would  the  God  who  made  all  science,  have  given 
a  religion  which  denies  its  plainest  propositions 
and  ignores  its  most  unquestioned  truths  ?  Or 
would  He  who  endowed  his  creatures  with  Avhat- 
ever  common  sense  they  may  possess,  have  re- 
vealed a  written  Word  which  could  not  stand  the 
test  of  common  sense  ?  Skeptics  and  believers 
alike  will  answer,  No  ! 

The  trouble  usuallv  arises  from  a  mistake  on 
the  part  of  both  scientists  and  theologians.  Be- 
cause he  cannot  find  the  name  of  God  as  the 
Maker  written  plainly  on  the  face  of  the  stars, 
the  scientist  doubts  the  existence  of  an  intelli- 
gent Creator.  And  because  he  finds  the  conclu- 
sions of  scientific  research  to  be  at  variance  with 
some  literal  statements  of  the  Bible,  the  theologian 
denies  the  plainest  propositions  and  facts  of  sci- 
ence. The  scientist  wants  to  find  material  proofs 
for  spiritual  things,  or  sensuous  evidence  for  that 
which  is  above  the  realm  of  sense  ;  and  the  theo- 
logian would  have  spiritual  evidence  for  that  which 
is  merely  natural,  or  proof  from  revelation  of  that 
which  is  plainly  written  on  the  rocks  or  disclosed 
by  the  movements  of  the  stars  before  his  eyes. 

Both  these  classes  have  a  lesson  to  learn. 
Astronomy  and  geology  and  cosmogony  are 
taught  in  the  volume  of  nature,  not  in  the  writ- 
ten Word.     Immortalitv  and  heaven  and  God  are 


12  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

revealed  in  the  Bible,  and  not  in  the  rocks  and 
stars.  The  scientist  need  not  doubt  the  Scrip- 
ture, because  its  natural  science  is  at  variance  with 
earthly  knowledge  ;  the  theologian  need  not  fear 
the  progress  of  science,  lest  it  should  overturn 
revelation.  The  Bible  is  purely  spiritual.  Its 
spiritual  teachings  are  in  harmonj''  with  all  true 
science  and  philosophy  ;  but  in  itself,  its  object, 
and  the  genuine  intent  of  all  its  statements,  it  is 
purely  spiritual.  Man  can  gain  natural  truth  by 
the  use  of  his  eyes  and  his  natural  understanding. 
But  he  can  obtain  spiritual  truth  only  by  revela- 
tion and  that  inner  consciousness  of  the  verity  of 
spiritual  things,  which  intuitively  grasps  its  teach- 
ings when  they  come  before  the  mind  in  the  form 
of  revelation. 

If,  then,  the  Bible  in  its  intent  and  meaning  is 
purely  spiritual,  why  does  it  profess  to  give  us  a 
scientific  account  of  the  creation  and  a  historic 
record  of  the  earth's  earliest  events?  The  Bible 
does  not  anywhere  profess  to  teach  science,  phil- 
osophy, or  history  as  natural  things.  Its  object 
was  well  expressed  by  Paul,  who  commended 
Timothy  for  his  knowledge  of  the  holy  Scriptures, 
because  they  were  able  to  make  him  wdse  unto 
salvation,  and  added:  ''All  Scripture  is  given  by 
inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine, 
or  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  right- 
eousness ;  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect, 


The  Garden.  13 

thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works "  (2 
Tim.  iii.  16,  It).  The  Bible  professes  to  teach 
righteousness  and  salvation,  and  all  truths  about 
heaven  and  God  that  lead  to  these.  If  there  is 
more  than  this  it  is  incidental. 

True,  the  Bible  is  replete  with  the  history, 
tradition  and  laws  of  the  Jews.  But  then  how 
often  it  is  asserted  that  these  are  types  of  spiritual 
things.  It  recounts,  for  example,  the  story  of 
the  building  of  the  temple ;  but  our  Lord  says 
that  the  temple  was  a  tjj3e  of  his  humanity.  It 
tells  how  the  wife  of  Lot  looked  back  to  burning 
Sodom,  and  became  a  pillar  of  salt ;  but  He  says 
that  this  is  a  type  of  the  fate  of  those  who, 
having  put  their  hand  to  the  plough  in  religious 
life,  look  back  to  the  world  and  self.  It  repeats 
the  tale  of  Jonah  ;  but  Jonah  being  three  days 
and  nights  in  the  belly  of  the  fish,  was  a  type, 
says  Christ,  of  his  own  entombment  and  resur- 
rection. It  sets  forth  how  Israel  was  fed  in  the 
wilderness  by  manna  ;  but  the  story  of  the  manna, 
according  to  Jesus,  shows  forth  the  lesson  how 
the  Lord  will,  at  all  times,  feed  the  spiritual 
Israel,  his  Church,  with  goodness  and  with 
grace.  The  serpent  was  lifted  up  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  but  this  was  a  type  of  the  elevation  and 
glorification  of  the  Son  of  Man. 

These  things  our  Lord  plainly  says  and  posi- 
tively sets  forth ;    and  we  thence  learn  that  all 
2 


1-i  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

Biblical  history  is  typical,  symbolical,  represen- 
tative or  correspondential  of  the  Lord,  of  his 
wavs  with  man,  of  his  work  for  man's  salvation, 
and  of  human  regeneration. 

Paul  also  tells  us  much  concerning  these  repre- 
sentations, and  gives  many  explanations  of  their 
typical  nature.  We  may  only  refer  to  the  fact 
here,  as  leading  up  to  and  pointing  out  the  truth, 
that  whereinsoever  the  Scripture  does  not  directly 
and  in  plain  language  teach  spiritual  truth,  its 
histories  and  narrations  are  given  as  types  and 
symbols  of  spiritual  things,  as  parables  or  alle- 
gories of  spiritual  life.  This  is  wherein  the 
holiness  of  Scripture  consists.  It  may  use  for 
this  purpose  the  history,  the  traditions,  or  the 
natural  science  of  the  people  to  whom  it  was 
first  given.  Whether  these  be  strictly  true  or 
not,  is  a  question  in  no  wise  pertinent  to  the 
issue.  When  Paul  asserts,  for  instance,  that 
the  life  of  Abraham  and  his  family  as  set  forth 
in  the  Biblical  narrative,  is  an  allegory  (Gal.  iv. 
22-31),  the  question  is  not  whether  there  is  any 
historical  error  in  the  account,  but  whether  it  is 
perfect  as  an  allegory  of  spiritual  life.-  And 
w^hen  the  same  apostle  declares  that  the  tabernacle 
to  the  most  minute  details  of  its  construction,  and 
the  Levitical  law  with  all  its  sacrifices,  offerings, 
and  curious  commands,  were  shadows  of  heavenly 
things  (Heb.  vii.,  viii.,  ix.,  x.),  it  is  not  the  ques- 


The  Garden^  lb 

tion  whether  anythino-  was  left  out  of  the  Mosaic 
narrative,  or  whether  there  were  inconsistencies 
therein  which  modern  ingenuity  fails  to  harmo- 
nize, but  whether  they  are  perfectly  expressed 
as  typos  and  shadows  of  good  things  to  come 
in  a  spiritual  way,  for  men  of  a  later  and  more 
spiritual  age. 

The  Xew  Church  takes  its  stand  upon  this 
ground :  that  the  Scripture  of  God  is  given  for 
purely  spiritual  purposes ;  that  it  is  written 
throughout  as  a  parable  of  spiritual  things  and 
an  allegorical  code  of  spiritual  instruction,  in 
types,  sacred  figures,  or  correspondences ;  that 
it  is  mainly  true  in  its  historical  details,  but  that, 
as  it  was  not  given  to  teach  history  or  science, 
scientific  inaccuracy,  or  any  other  objection  which 
may  be  raised  on  the  purely  natural  plane,  no  more 
mars  its  perfection  as  the  inspired  Word  of  God, 
than  would  it  invalidate  the  spiritual  authority 
of  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  could  it  be 
incontestably  proven  that  no  such  individual  ever 
lived,  behaved  riotously,  fed  swine,  repented,  or 
returned. 

In  this  view  it  is  proposed  to  take  up  the  his- 
tory of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  This  narrative  has 
been  given  as  a  spiritual  allegory.  Its  construc- 
tion, its  peculiarities  of  diction,  and  the  difficulties 
which  surround  the  assumption  that  it  is  the 
record  of   actual   facts   set   down   concerning   a 


16  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

historical  man  and  woman,  point  to  it  as  a  spec- 
imen of  divine  parable,  beautiful  in  its  simplicity, 
perfect  in  its  symmetry,  harmonious  in  its  state- 
ments. It  is  of  no  consequence  how  inconsistent 
or  inaccurate  it  may  be  as  a  historical  record ;  as 
a  parable  it  is  perfect,  and  that  is  enough.  The 
Divine  Mind  here  as  in  other  parts  of  the  Word, 
seeks  to  teach  not  natural  but  spiritual  history ; 
not  the  outward  actions  of  races,  but  the  inward 
workings  of  hearts.  It  treats  not  of  changes  of 
locality,  but  of  alterations  of  state ;  not  of  the 
loss  of  a  natural  abode,  but  of  the  forfeiture  of  a 
spiritual  home.  The  outer  husk  of  the  narrative 
is  temporal  and  carnal ;  its  inward  life  is  moral 
and  spiritual. 

The  first  thought  that  suggests  itself  in  the 
consideration  of  this  topic,  is  in  reference  to  the 
etymology  of  the  word  "  Eden."  It  is  a  Hebrew 
expression  signifying  delight  or  happiness.  And 
when  we  consider  that  the  term  garden  is  often 
applied  in  the  Scripture  to  man's  state  of  spiritual 
intelligence,  or  to  that  frame  of  mind  in  which  he 
readily  comprehends  and  accepts  spiritual  things, 
that  this  peculiar  state  of  mind  is  alluded  to  as  a 
garden,  likened  to  a  garden,  called  a  garden,  we 
have  no  trouble  in  arriving  at  the  truth  that  the 
Garden  of  Eden  was  man's  spiritually  intelligent 
state  of  love  and  happiness  in  the  early  age  of 
the  world.     For  was  it  not  said  in  reference  to 


The  Garden.  17 

the  Jews,  spiritually  unfertile  and  dry  as  their 
religious  state  was,  '*  Ye  shall  be  as  an  oak  whose 
leaf  fadeth,  and  as  a  garden  that  hath  no  water  " 
(Isa.  i.  8)  ? — that  is,  as  an  intelligent  mind  not 
fertilized  by  any  conception  of  spiritual  truth  ? 
And  when  the  restoration  of  the  Church  was 
foretold,  and  its  promised  fertile  and  fruitful 
condition  set  forth  in  glowing  figures,  was  it  not 
said  by  the  Lord,  ''  Thou  shalt  be  like  a  watered 
garden,  and  like  a  spring  of  water,  Avhose  waters 
fail  not  "  (Isa.  Iviii.  11;  ? 

Eden  is  also  mentioned  in  other  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture. It  is  generally  used,  however,  in  reference 
to  a  spiritual  condition,  and  not  as  a  place.  Thus 
the  Lord,  through  Ezekiel,  rebukes  the  prince  of 
Tyre  for  his  arrogance,  and  for  his  assumption 
of  the  honors  of  divine  worship.  He  holds  up 
before  him  the  perfectness  of  his  walk  with  God 
until  iniquity  lay  hold  upon  him  ;  and  how  much 
lower  would  be  his  fall,  because,  having  been  once 
perfect,  he  has  now,  in  his  pride,  proclaimed  him- 
self a  god.  In  reference  to  his  first  state  the  Lord 
says,  '*  Thou  hast  been  in  Eden,  the  garden  of 
God"  (Ez.  xxviii.  13).  Now  the  prince  of  Tyre 
had  never  been  in  any  literal  garden  called  Eden. 
But  he  had  followed  the  Lord ;  he  had  loved  and 
worshiped  Him  ;  he  had  feasted  on  spiritual  in- 
telligence ;  he  had  been,  spiritually  speaking,  in 
Eden,  the  garden  of  God.  Eden  was  his  religious 
2-  B 


18  The  Garde7i  of  Eden. 

state ;  it  was  his  state  of  love  for  God ;  it  was, 
if  you  please,  the  kingdom  of  God  in  which  he 
once  had  dwelt—  not  locally,  but  as  to  mind  and 
heart. 

This  same  figure  is  used  by  the  Lord  in  speak- 
ing of  Assyria,  as  again  given  in  the  prophet 
Ezekiel.      He  extols  the  Assyrian  for  what  he 
had  been,   as   a  people,    and  condemns   him  for 
what  he  then  was.     Depicting,  in  the  language 
of   correspondence,    his   former   high   spiritual 
estate.   He  says:   "Behold  the  Assyrian  was  a 
cedar  in  Lebanon  with  fair  branches  and  of  high 
stature.     Not  any  tree  in  the  garden  of  God  was 
like  unto  him  in  beauty.     I  have  made  him  fair 
by  the  multitude  of  his  branches ;  so  that  all  the 
trees  of  Eden  that  were  in  the  garden  of  God 
envied   him"   (Ez.  xxxi.  3,  8,  9).      The  whole 
description,  and  much  more  too  voluminous  to 
quote,  is  purely  symbolic.      The   cedar   tree   is 
the  Assyrian   man   or  mind,  with   its  peculiarly 
rational  tone  as  it  was  in  its  highest  and  best 
religious   state.      The  trees  of  Eden  are  those 
men  or  minds  who  were  in  the  love  of  the  Lord ; 
and  the  garden  of  God  in  which  they  were  planted, 
is  that  state  of  spiritual  intelligence  in  which  are 
all  who  love  the  Lord,  his  ways,  his  truths,  and 
his  life.    And  therefore  it  is  that  Isaiah,  in  proph- 
esying concerning,  the  future  spiritual  condition 
of  the  Church,  declares  that  the  Lord  ''  will  make 


The  Garden.  19 

her  wilderness  like  Eden,  and  her  desert  like  the 
garden  of  the  Lord ;  joy  and  gladness  shall  be 
found  therein,  thanksgiving  and  the  voice  of 
melody  "  (li.  3).  How  beautiful  a  description 
of  the  wonderful  change  that  shall  transform 
the  reli2,'ious  wilderness  of  Judaism  into  the 
Eden  of  Christianity — the  desert  of  reli^-ious 
ignorance  into  the  garden  of  spiritual  intelli- 
gence ! 

He  who  attains  this  state  of  superabounding 
love,  is  in  Eden ;  he  w^ho  can  see  spiritual  truth 
as  clearly  as  he  understands  natural  truth,  is  in 
the  Lord's  garden.  Eden,  as  a  sacred  symbol,  is 
love,  with  all  the  blessings  that  follow  in  its  train ; 
a  garden,  as  a  sacred  symbol,  is  spiritual  intelli- 
gence, with  all  the  joys  that  follow  its  possession. 
And  our  early  ancestors — no  matter  where  they 
lived,  nor  bv  the  side  of  what  rivers,  nor  in  what 
meridian,  clime  or  zone — were  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden ;  not  because  they  were  here  or  there,  but 
because  they  were  in  a  state  of  love  and  inno- 
cence and  joy  and  bliss  that  no  tongue  can  ex- 
press ;  because  they  were  in  a  state  of  conscious- 
ness of  the  Lord's  presence,  of  comprehension  of 
the  things  of  divine  wisdom,  and  of  conception 
of  all  that  pertains  to  eternal  life  and  its  joys, 
of  which  none  but  dwellers  in  that  garden  can 
form  the  least  idea.  Perhaps  they  were  simple 
in  what  we  call  worldly  ways ;  illiterate  in  what 


20  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

we  term  letters ;  without  the  luxuries  which  we 
have  learned  to  love ;  and  innocent  of  the  very 
knowledge  of  evil ;  good  in  all  the  Lord  calls 
good,  and  wise  in  the  wisdom  of  holy  life,  beyond 
all  that  this  world,  as  it  now  is,  can  imagine. 

But  was  not  Adam  a  single  individual  ?  Care- 
ful consideration  does  not  so  read  the  Scripture. 
Adam  is  the  Hebrew  term  for  man ;  not  man  a 
male  individual,  for  there  is  another  Hebrew 
word  for  that ;  but  man  collectively -as  a  class  or 
race.  Adam  means  mankind.  It  could  not  mean 
an  individual,  for  in  the  original  it  is  a  collective 
noun.  True,  the  translators  of  the  Bible,  having 
imbibed  the  old  tradition  of  Adam  as  the  sole 
progenitor  of  the  human  race,  have  sometimes 
translated  it  as  though  it  were  the  name  of  an 
individual.  But  they  have  been  compelled  in 
other  places  to  give  the  real  meaning,  or  spoil 
the  sense  of  the  text.  Thus,  when  it  is  said  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  ''And  God  said.  Let 
us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness  " 
(Gen.  i.  26),  the  original  Hebrew  word  is  Adam. 
But  it  would  not  do  to  translate  it  Adam  there, 
as  the  name  of  an  individual,  because  the  text 
proceeds  thus :  "And  let  them  have  dominion 
over  the  fish  of  the  sea,"  etc.  And  the  next 
verse  continues  in  the  same  strain  :  "  So  God 
created  man,"  literally,  "God  created  Adam,  in 
his  ov/n  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  He 


The  Garden.  21 

him  ;  male  and  female  created  He  them.  And 
God  blessed  them ;  and  God  said  unto  them,  Be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth  and 
subdue  it." 

Adam,  then,  is  a  collective  noun.  Adam  was 
created  male  and  female ;  and  there  were  a  num- 
ber of  them,  for  the  term  them  certainly  means 
more  than  one.  Adam  was  the  primitive  race. 
He  was  placed  in  Eden,  not  as  a  single  man  in  a 
solitary  garden,  but  as  a  race  of  men  originally 
broufrht  into  the  kino'dom  of  God.  His  state  or 
condition  was  called  Eden,  because  he  was  loving 
and  therefore  happy ;  a  garden,  because  he  was 
truly  intelligent  and  spiritually  wise.  Adam 
(that  is,  the  human  race)  would  be  in  Eden  to- 
day, if  all  men  loved  the  Lord  supremely,  and 
perceived  and  appreciated  the  heavenly  intelli- 
gence with  which  their  Maker  seeks  to  endow 
them. 

The  history  of  Eden  is,  therefore,  an  account, 
in  allegorical  form,  of  the  spiritual  condition  of 
the  early  inhabitants  of  earth.  Each  word  in 
the  narrative  is  a  symbol,  and  a  perfect  one. 
Inconsistencies  in  the  letter  disappear  when 
their  spiritual  meaning  is  discerned. 

Briefly  let  us  glance  at  a  few  of  the  attributes 
of  this  wonderful  garden.  It  was  planted  east- 
ward in  Eden.  In  sacred  symbolism  the  east  is 
where  the  Lord  is.     Spiritually,  we  are  looking 


22  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

eastward  when  we  look  to  Him.  The  garden 
w^as,  therefore,  said  to  be  planted  eastward  in 
Eden,  because  the  religion  of  those  people  all 
centered  in  the  Lord.  Their  love,  their  innocence, 
their  joy  and  gladness  were  recognized  as  from 
the  Lord,  were  rejoiced  in  as  the  Lord's,  were 
manifested  as  the  Lord's  life  flowing  through 
them.  The  g^arden,  therefore — their  spiritual 
wisdom  and  intelligence — was  planted  in  Eden, 
their  love  and  spiritual  joy,  eastward,  in  the  full 
consciousness  of  their  possessing  both  from  the 
Lord  and  in  his  presence.  ''And  out  of  the 
ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  tree 
that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food." 

Our  Lord  very  often,  when  on  earth,  likened 
the  ground  to  the  mind.  It  is  another  sacred 
symbol.  When  He  likened  himself  to  a  sower 
sowing  the  seeds  of  Gospel  truth,  the  shallow 
soil  was  the  shallow  mind,  the  stony  ground 
w^as  the  callous  mind  impervious  to  spiritual 
ideas,  the  good  ground  was  the  fruitful  mind. 
The  ground  here  out  of  which  the  trees  grew, 
was  the  ground  of  the  mind.  The  trees  are  the 
mind's  perceptions.  Sometimes  this  word  is 
used  for  the  man  himself  or  the  mind  itself; 
but  it  really  means  the  mind's  religious  percep- 
tions. "■  Every  tree  that  bringeth  forth  good 
fruit "  of  which  our  Lord  spake,  means  not  only 
every  man  or  every  mind,  but  specifically  every 


The  Garden.  23 

perception  of  true  life  which  the  mind  has,  that 
goes  forth  into  good  life,  or  bears  spiritual  fruit. 
So  all  perceptions  of  the  true,  which  sprang  forth 
in  the  ground  of  the  minds  of  those  people,  which 
could  be  pleasant  to  the  sight  (mental  sight  is  the 
understanding  ;  pleasant  to  the  sight,  is  agreeable 
to  the  understanding)  or  good  for  food — good,  that 
is,  for  spiritual  nourishment — were  given  by  the 
Lord  to  a  people  so  loving  and  so  true. 

The  river  that  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the 
garden,  is  a  curious  expression.  How,  literalh^, 
could  the  river  2:0  out  of  Eden  to  water  the 
garden,  if,  literally,  Eden  was  the  garden  ?  Nat- 
urally, it  could  not ;  spiritually,  it  could.  The 
river  is  the  symbol  of  wisdom  considered  as  flow- 
ing into  the  mind  from  the  fountain  of  wisdom, 
God.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  trace  this  beautiful 
symbol  through  its  many  phases  in  the  Word. 
Suffice  it  here  to  allude  to  the  river  of  water  of 
life,  which  in  the  Revelation  is  described  as  pro- 
ceeding out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 
The  river  of  Eden  and  the  river  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  are  one.  The  spirit  of  wisdom,  its 
fountain-head  being  the  Lord,  proceeds  from  the 
love  of  spiritual  things  within  the  mind,  and  the 
delight  in  pursuing  them.  Without  a  love  for  it 
and  a  delight  in  its  pursuit,  there  is  no  wisdom 
of  anv  kind.  Hence  the  river  went  forth  from 
Eden — wisdom  springing  from  love  and  its  de- 


24  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

light.     And  it  went  forth  to  water  the  garden, 
or  to  give  life  and  vigor  to  human  intelligence. 

And  this  river  is  said  to  have  parted  into  four 
heads,  and  to  have  watered  four  regions,  Havilah, 
Ethiopia,  Assyria  and  the  land  of  the  Euphrates, 
— not  because  any  literal  rivers  went  forth  to 
water  natural  lands,  but  because  the  mind  has 
four  regions  to  be  influenced  by  reason  and  to  be 
guided  by  intelligence.  These  are  the  will,  the 
understanding,  the  rationality  and  the  memory. 
They  are  spiritual  lands — lands  of  the  mind  and 
not  of  matter;  and  the  names  of  those  particular 
countries  are  so  applied,  because  they  afterwards 
became  sacred  symbols  in  accordance  with  the 
predominating  genius  of  their  people,  and  in  that 
sense  are  elsewhere  used  in  the  Scriptures. 

So  geographers  may  give  up  their  disputes  in 
the  effort  to  find  impossible  rivers  w^atering  impos- 
sible lands  and  flowing  from  an  impossible  Eden ; 
for  Eden  is  in  all  places  where  man  is  of  heavenly 
mould,  and  its  garden  and  trees  and  rivers  are 
simply  descriptive,  in  ancient  symbolism,  of  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  a  people  beloved  of  the  Lord. 
Even  the  gold  of  Haviiah  they  may  cease  to 
search  for,  as  we  are  told  in  the  text  that  the  gold 
of  that  land  was  good.  For  Havilah  was  the 
land  of  the  will ;  and  goodness — good  thoughts, 
good  desires  and  good  deeds — was  the  golden  will 
of  those  celestial  people  who  lived  in  olden  times. 


The  Garden.  2o 

To  this  era,  all  tradition  points.  From  Egypt, 
India,  Greece  and  Rome,  the  oracles  of  the  an- 
cient chronicles  tell  us  in  glowing  syllables  of  the 
Golden  Age.  It  was  the  Avorld's  young  morn  of 
happy  innocence.  Why  is  it  set  forth  in  Scrip- 
ture ?  To  teach  the  Church  what  it  has  been, 
and  what  it  may  again  become.  That  which  has 
been,  may  be.  That  which  has  once  been  lost, 
may  once  again  be  found.  And  the  life  that  man 
has  lived,  may  be  lived  by  man  again.  We  may 
all  dwell  in  Eden  ;  and  the  narrative  of  the  garden 
of  spiritual  joy,  stands  as  a  hope,  a  promise,  a 
spiritual  prophecy  of  what  may  again  be  realized 
here  on  earth. 

May  the  time  speed  on  when  Christianity 
shall  find  its  Eden  once  more,  where  the  sole 
delight  shall  be — with  love  that  shall  never  weary 
and  wisdom  that  will  not  die — to  dress  and  keep, 
in  its  eternal  beauty,  that  sacred  garden  of  the 
Lord  I 
3 


II. 


THE  TWO  TREES. 

And  out  of  the  ground  made  the  Lord  God 
to  groiv  every  tret  that  is  pleasant  to  the 
sight,  and  good  for  food;  tJie  tree  of  life 
also  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree 
of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.— Gen.  ii.  9. 

'HE  very  first  principle  in  our  consideration 
of  whatever  relates  to  the  Garden  of  Eden, 
lies  in  the  truth  that  it  is  a  state  and  not  a 
place ;  that  the  entire  narrative  is  an  allegory, 
and  not  a  literal  history.  Eden  is  in  the  heart. 
The  garden  is  of  the  mind.  The  second  chapter 
of  Genesis  describes  not  a  natural  occurrence 
which  took  place  in  a  particular  earthly  locality, 
but  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  most  ancient 
Church.  Adam  means  not  one  individual,  but  all 
mankind.  The  garden  was  a  symbol  of  the  intelli- 
gence in  which  they  lived ;  Eden,  of  the  sphere  of 
love  and  joy  amid  which  they  moved.  And  Adam 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  is  an  allegory  of  the  state 
of  love,  happiness  and  spiritual  intelligence  in 
which  the  Lord  placed  the  early  fathers  of  the 
human  race.  This  was  the  lesson  we  drew  from 
the  text  in  our  last  discourse.  This  is  the  plain 
inference  to  be  deduced  from  what  the  Scripture 
elsewhere  affirms  of  its  own  method  of  interpreta- 

26 


The  Two  Trees.  27 

tion ;  from  what  the  Lord's  Word  elsewhere  testi- 
fies concerning  Eden  and  the  garden  that  bore  its 
name. 

This  method  of  calling  certain  conditions  of  life 
or  states  of  mind  by,  as  it  were,  local  names,  is  a 
characteristic  of  all  Scripture,  and  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  poets  of  all  time  as  peculiarly  beau- 
tiful and  expressive.  A  verse  in  Moore's  Lalla 
Rookh,  illustrates  this  poetic  peculiarity,  borrowed 
from  the  age  of  symbolism. 

"There 's  a  bliss  beyond  all  that  the  minstrel  has  told, 

When  two,  that  are  linked  in  one  heav'nly  tie. 
With  heart  never  changing  and  brow  never  cold, 

Love  on  through  all  ills  and  love  on  till  they  die. 
One  hour  of  a  passion  so  sacred,  is  worth 

Whole  ages  of  heartless  and  wandering  bliss  ; 
And,  oh  !  if  there  he  an  Elysium  on  earth, 

It  is  this,  it  is  this." 

How  the  force  of  this  passage  would  be  destroyed 
were  we  to  imagine  Elysium  as  used  here,  to  be 
a  particular  province  or  town  in  which  all  young 
lovers  dwelt.  It  is  descriptive,  on  the  contrary, 
of  a  state  of  love  and  bliss.  But  should  we  sub- 
stitute, in  place  of  the  idea  of  a  sentimental  pas- 
sion between  two  young  hearts,  that  of  a  condition 
of  perfect  love  to  the  Lord,  with  all  the  joy,  peace 
and  innocence  with  which  that  state  is  so  closely 
bound,  and  close  a  couplet  poetically  descriptive 
thereof  with  the  exclamation, 


28  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

"And,  oh  !  if  there  be  an  Eden  on  earth, 
It  is  tliis,  it  is  this," 

we  would  get  the  precise  idea  of  the  manner  in 
which  Eden  is  to  be  understood  in  Scripture. 
This  is  a  conception  that  must  be  thoroughly 
imbedded  in  our  minds  and  naturalized  to  our 
thoughts,  if  we  would  read  this  portion  of  the 
Bible  aright.  So  thinking  and  so  intuitively 
grasping  the  spirit  of  the  narrative,  we  are  pre- 
pared to  follow  its  details  to  their  legitimate  con- 
clusion. 

Now  in  this  view  it  becomes  evident  that,  as 
Eden  is  not  a  place  nor  the  garden  a  locality,  the 
two  trees  which  play  so  important  a  part  in  the 
narrative  must  be  something  other  than  their 
literal  import  would  indicate.  If  the  Garden  of 
Eden  is  a  phrase  indicative  of  the  state  of  the 
people  of  the  Lord's  first  Church  on  earth,  these 
trees  must,  in  some  way,  be  further  descriptive 
of  that  state.  Their  very  names  indicate  this. 
A  tree  of  life — a  natural  tree  that  would  bear 
fruit,  the  eating  whereof  would  render  our  ex- 
istence on  earth  one  of  endless  duration — is  a 
thing  that  we  cannot  comprehend.  To  suppose 
that  any  natural  fruit  could  nourish  our  souls 
to  eternal  life,  in  the  higher  spiritual  meaning 
of  that  term,  would  tax  our  credulity  still  more 
largely.  But  as  this  garden  is  of  the  mind,  to 
find  some  mental  attributes  of  which  these  trees 


The   Two   Trees,  29 

are  symbolic,  or  to  which  they  correspond,  were 
not  so  very  difficult. 

That  in  ancient  times  the  tree  of  life  was  used 
in  a  figurative  sense,  is  evident  from  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  employed  by  Solomon.  Thus  he 
says  in  his  Proverbs,  ''Happy  is  the  man  that 
findeth  wisdom ;  .  .  .  she  is  a  tree  of  life  to 
them  that  lay  hold  upon  her ;  and  happy  is  every 
one  that  retaineth  her  "  (iii.  13,  18).  And  again, 
"  Hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick ;  but  when 
the  desire  cometh,  it  is  a  tree  of  life  "  (lb.  xiii.  12). 
The  wise  man,  in  accordance  with  the  usage  of 
his  day  derived  from  a  higher  antiquity,  applied 
this  term  to  anything  that  gave  new  life  or  vigor 
to  understanding,  heart,  thought  or  desire.  A 
tree  of  life  Avas  that,  whatever  it  might  be,  from 
which  mental  or  moral  life  refreshed  or  renewed 
itself.  We  have  no  warrant  for  believing  that  the 
term  in  olden  times  was  ever  thought  of  except 
as  a  symbol.  'Certainly  all  references  to  it  in  the 
Bible  disagree  with  the  literal  idea  and  sustain 
the  figurative.  But  this  use  of  the  term,  as  seen 
in  the  quotations  from  Solomon,  was  on  a  some- 
what lower  plane  than  that  in  which  the  Lord  uses 
it  in  the  books  He  has  given  in  his  own  name. 
What  He  says,  while  it  has  a  mental  and  moral, 
has  also  a  spiritual  import.  The  whole  Word  of 
God  in  its  inward  meanings,  announces  spiritual 
truths. 

a* 


30  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

This  meaning  may  be  gathered  from  the  book 
of  Revelation.  Here  it  is  our  Lord  who  com- 
mands John  to  write,  and  who  dictates  what  he 
shall  write  ;  and  the  words  convey  strictly  divine 
meanings  in  all  their  forms  of  expression.  And 
He  commands  this  to  be  written  to  the  Church 
of  Ephesus :  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I 
give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  paradise  of  God "  (Rev.  ii.  t). 
Here  the  tree  of  life  clearly  indicates  something 
high  and  holy.  He  that  is  entitled  to  partake  of 
this  tree,  is  he  that  has  overcome.  Overcome 
what  ?  Why,  the  flesh  and  the  world,  self  and 
sensuality,  pride  and  passion ;  who  has,  in  fact, 
trodden  under  foot  everything,  of  whatever  nature 
or  description,  which  impedes  the  perfect  life — sin 
in  act,  in  thought,  in  desire.  He  who  does  this, 
is  he  who  lives  in  love  of  the  Lord ;  who  lives  in 
the  Lord  and  from  the  Lord  ;  who  has  the  Lord's 
life  inscribed  on  the  very  nerves  and  tissues  of  his 
spirit.  Such  an  one  is  a  living  embodiment  of 
God's  law  and  love.  He  knows  that  it  is  he  who 
hath  the  Lord's  commandments  and  doeth  them, 
that  loveth  Him.  And  He  has  and  does,  and 
therefore  loves. 

We  use  this  term  love  a  great  deal.  What 
does  it  mean  ?  It  means  that  the  love  or  affec- 
tion from  which  a  person  does  his  daily  work,  not 
only  tinges  the  whole  character,  but  gives  color 


The  Two  Trees.  31 

and  quality  to  the  entire  life.  As  Swedenborg 
expresses  it,  "Love  is  the  life  of  man."  One 
may  do  a  good  act  from  a  bad  love.  He  may  live 
an  outvrardly  good  life  from  inwardly  bad  motives. 
He  may  be  gentle  and  kind  and  give  freely  to 
charitable  purposes,  and  be  honest  in  business, 
and  say  many  prayers,  because  he  seeks  honor 
and  praise  from  men.  He  may  do  many  good 
things  from  the  love  of  approbation,  or  from  the 
love  of  advancement,  or  from  the  love  of  money, 
or  from  any  other  selfish  love.  Now  a  good  act 
done  from  an  unworthy  love,  so  far  as  the  man  is 
concerned,  is  spurious.  The  love  from  w^hich  he 
speaks  or  acts,  stamps  the  character  of  the  word 
or  deed,  rendering  it  good  or  bad  according  to  the 
quality  of  the  love. 

But  when  our  Lord  said  :  ''  If  ye  love  me,  keep 
my  commandments  ;"  and  "he  that  hath  my  com- 
mandments and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth 
me,"  He  told  the  whole  story  of  love  to  God,  and 
gave  the  expression  its  true  definition.  The  Lord's 
commandments  teach  the  pure  and  perfect  life. 
They  are  instinct  with  honesty,  sincerity,  truth- 
fulness, generosity,  unselfishness,  purity,  spiritu- 
ality. They  ignore  base  and  low  motives ;  they 
exalt  that  which  is  noble  and  lovely.  They  do 
not  debar  us  from  all  sensual  gratification,  but 
they  place  sense  and  self  under  the  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  spiritual  faculties.     Love  to  the  Lord 


32  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

is  love  of  all  things  good  and  true,  because  these 
constitute  his  very  Self.  He  taught  us  this  kind 
of  life  in  a  thousand  precepts,  and  commanded  us 
to  keep  them.  If  we  love  the  Lord's  teachings, 
we  love  Him.  If  we  love  his  commandments  and 
practice  them  in  our  daily  lives,  we  love  Him. 
If  we  love  his  character  and  example,  we  love 
Him.  If  we  love  to  have,  his  spirit  in  the  heart 
as  a  prompting  motive  in  all  we  speak  and  do,  we 
love  Him. 

Love  to  the  Lord  is  good  as  a  sentimental  emo- 
tion ;  but  if  it  is  nothing  more,  it  is  comparatively- 
worthless.  In  truth  it  is  a  very  practical  thing. 
It  is  something  that  lives  in  the  life,  gives  tone  to 
the  character,  buys  and  sells,  works  in  the  hands, 
renders  the  muscles  vigorous,  energizes  the  facul- 
ties, imparts  truthfulness  to  prayer  and  sincerity 
to  worship.  When  love  to  the  Lord  is  the  prin- 
ciple from  which  we  live  and  work,  then  life  is 
genuine.  "We  live  righteously  because  from  the 
love  of  right,  and  do  good  works  from  the  love 
of  good.  God  is  righteousness  itself — goodness 
itself ;  and  he  who  loves  the  right  and  the  good 
for  their  own  sake,  loves  God — loves  Him  who 
infills  the  soul  with  their  spirit.  If  all  men  had 
this  spirit,  the  world  would  again  be  an  Eden, 
and  all  would  be  living  on  the  fruit  of  the  tree 
of  life.  For  Eden,  as  we  have  learned,  is  this 
state  of  love ;  but  the  tree  of  life-  is  that  love  as 


The   Two   Trees.  33 

the  very  life  of  the  heart.  Eden  is  the  state  of 
peace,  innocence  and  joy  with  which  the  soul  is 
suffused,  and  which  it  carries  with  it  in  all  the 
circumstances  and  vicissitudes  of  life,  in  all  its 
labors  and  burdens,  in  all  its  duties  and  amuse- 
ments. But  the  tree  of  life  is  that  love  as  the 
fountain  within  the  heart  whence  spring  the  spirit 
of  goodness  and  purity  of  motive  which  give  the 
life  this  state  and  tone. 

The  tree  of  life  I  Love  to  God !  Let  us  under- 
stand this  fully.  Is  not  the  Lord  as  a  sun  to  the 
spirit  ?  Does  not  the  Scripture  tell  us  this  dis- 
tinctlv  ?  Flows  He  not  in  with  an  influence  on 
mind  and  heart,  with  the  spirit  of  understanding 
and  the  warmth  of  love,  in  a  manner  similar  to 
that  in  which  the  natural  sun  operates  upon  the 
earth  with  his  light  and  heat  ?  Do  we  not  speak 
of  the  light  of  truth  and  the  warmth  of  love  as 
real  things  ?  Yea,  the  Lord,  as  the  central  Sun 
of  the  world  of  spirit  and  mind,  flows  in  with 
his  light  into  the  understanding  and  with  his 
love  into  the  will.  Then  when  it  is  said,  ''  The 
Lord  God  is  a  sun  and  shield  ;  the  Lord  will  give 
grace  and  glory,"  we  cling  to  the  sentiment  in  no 
merely  metaphorical  sense ;  we  recognize  the  un- 
seen Divinity  as  the  fountain  whence  pour,  as 
real  things,  the  grace  of  love  into  the  heart  and 
the  glory  of  spiritual  wisdom  into  the  under- 
standing. 

C 


34  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

If,  then,  love  is  an  implantation  of  the  Lord's 
own  spirit  within  the  heart — true  love,  I  mean — 
w^e  see  what  a  glorious  tree  of  life  it  is  as  it  takes 
root  in  the  ground  of  the  spirit,  growls  in  vigor 
and  expands  in  strength,  until  the  whole  life  feeds 
upon  its  fruit  and  nourishes  itself  with  its  invig- 
orating juices.  For  ''out  of  the  ground,"  it  is 
said,  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  these  trees ; 
and  out  of  the  ground  of  man's  spirit  is  it,  that 
the  tree  of  life  and  its  opposite  spring  forth. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  this  tree  of  life  whereof 
the  Apostle  John  wrote  to  the  Ephesian  Church, 
and  of  which  it  is  declared  that  he  who  over- 
cometh  shall  eat,  is  said  to  be  ''in  the  midst  of 
the  Paradise  of  God."  Paradise  is  Eden.  In 
the  midst  of  Paradise,  is  in  the  center  of  the 
heart.  Observe,  it  is  not  spoken  of  here  as  a 
matter  of  the  past — not  as  a  thing  of  six  thou- 
sand years  ago — but  is  predicated  of  the  present 
and  future.  The  Ephesians  were  after  Christ's 
time.  Had  Eden  been  a  locality  of  earliest  geog- 
raphy, no  Ephesian  could  ever  have  been  there. 
Literally  viewed,  Eden  has  gone  into  oblivion 
forever ;  it  is  obliterated  from  the  face  of  the 
earth ;  and  the  tree  of  life  exists  no  more.  But 
Eden,  or  the  tree  of  life  in  its  midst,  was  prom- 
ised to  an  Asiatic  Church.  Eden  is  in  every 
heart  that  overcometh ;  and  he  that  overcometh, 
to-dny  and  forever,  is  in  Paradise,  the  Eden  of 


The  Two   Trees.  35 

God.  And  he  eats  of  the  tree  of  life  nutriment — • 
or  in  other  words,  he  draws  his  spiritual,  his  dis- 
interested, heavenly  life  —  from  the  love  of  the 
Lord  planted  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  of  his 
mind.  It  is  not  from  Paine  or  Yoltaire  or  Inger- 
soll  that  he  draws  the  nourishment  which  feeds 
his  mind  and  invigorates  his  heart ;  from  such 
sources  he  gathers  the  food  of  doubt  or  denial  of 
religion  and  its  God.  It  is  not  from  the  world 
and  its  mean  morality  or  sensuous  pleasure ;  not 
from  self  with  its  soul-seducing  conclusions,  and 
cold,  hard,  iron  logic,  that  he  gathers  the  nutri- 
ment for  his  spirit's  life ;  but  it  is  from  the  love 
of  God  and  goodness,  and  the  Word  of  God  which 
reveals  them.  The  purity,  the  sweetness,  the  in- 
nocence, the  unselfishness  of  the  life  which  the 
Lord  commands  and  gives,  are  so  grateful  to  his 
obedient  heart  and  receptive  thought  and  willing 
hand,  that  he  will  have  no  other  fruit  to  appro- 
priate to  the  life  of  his  soul. 

That  is  to  say,  it  is  not  in  the  garden  of  doubt, 
nor  in  that  of  denial,  nor  in  that  of  merely  sen- 
suous thought,  that  he  truly  lives ;  not  in  the 
garden  of  w^orldliness  or  selfishness  or  mere  sen- 
suous pleasure  that  he  dwells ;  but  it  is  in  Eden, 
the  Paradise  of  God,  the  garden  of  love,  with  its 
intelligence  and  joy.  And  he  eats  not,  nor  nour- 
ishes his  soul  with  the  fruit,  of  any  tree  that 
teaches  or  produces  or  strengthens  a  denial  of  the 


36  TJie  Garden  of  Eden. 

Lord,  or  an  unwise  or  unholy  life  ;  but  he  sets  up 
the  love  of  the  Lord  within  his  heart,  or  rather 
permits  the  Lord  to  plant  it  there,  as  the  source 
of  all  true  life  and  holy  joy  and  serene  peace — 
of  all  truth,  wisdom,  and  intelligence.  It  is  of 
the  fruit  of  this  tree  that  he  eats,  and  eating  lives 
forever.  Not  that  his  material  body  will  live  for 
ages  unending  on  this  earthly  ball ;  but  his  soul, 
wherever  it  works,  whether  in  this  world  or  the 
world  to  come,  will  possess  that  divine  gift  which 
can  never  be  taken  away,  and  which,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Lord,  is  known  as  eternal  life. 

Thus  ate  the  Eden  dwellers  of  old,  and  thus  had 
they  life.  Thus  may  we  eat  and  live ;  and  all 
mankind  may  dwell  again  in  Eden  if  they  will. 
For  at  almost  the  very  close  of  the  holy  Word, 
with  well-nigh  the  last  written  utterance  our  Lord 
vouchsafes  to  man.  He  declares:  "Blessed  are 
they  that  do  his  commandments,  that  they  may 
have  right  to  the  tree  of  life  "  (Rev.  xxii.  14). 

So  we  know  that  the  tree  of  life  is  love ;  that 
when  it  is  said  it  grows  in  the  midst  of  the  Para- 
dise of  God,  it  means  in  the  center  of  the  soul; 
that  we  eat  of  it  by  appropriating  it  in  will  and 
thought  and  act ;  or  in  other  words,  by  obeying 
the  Lord's  commands ;  that  so  did  they  who  lived 
in  the  first  Church  which  the  Lord  planted  on 
earth,  and  called  by  the  name  Adam  ;  and  that 


The   Two   Trees.  37 

we  like  them,  so  far  as  we  love  the  Lord  and  live 
in  and  from  Him,  shall  dwell  in  Eden  too. 

And  now,  ye  who  honestly  doubt  the  Bible  as  the 
Word  of  God,  because  this  narrative  in  Genesis 
is  inconsistent  as  literal  history,  are  you  not  mis- 
taken in  your  criticism  ?  Is  not  this  which  I 
have  briefly  set  forth,  the  real  meaning  of  Eden 
and  its  tree,  viewed  in  the  light  of  other  portions 
of  the  sacred  Volume  ? 

But  there  was  another  tree  which  grew  in  this 
wonderful  garden,  and  it  was  called  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 

There  is  no  mention  of  this  by  name  in  any 
other  portion  of  the  Scripture.  But  when  we 
come  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  tree  of  life, 
can  we  doubt  concerninii'  this?  Whatever  the 
one  is,  the  other  is  evidently  its  opposite.  And 
if  we  have  dwelt  long  and  critically  upon  the 
nature  of  the  one,  it  is  not  time  wasted  ;  for  we 
have  but  to  turn  our  backs  upon  the  tree  of  life 
and  look  the  other  wav,  to  behold  that  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  To  eat  of  the  tree 
of  life,  was  to  live  from  the  Lord  and  heavenly 
love.  To  eat  of  the  forbidden  tree,  was  to  live 
from  self-love  and  the  self-intellio-ence  thence  de- 
rived.  The  tree  of  life  grew  heavenly  fruit ;  the 
tree  of  knowledge  infernal  fruit.  The  tree  of 
love  gave  clear  perception  of  what  was  good  and 
true ;  the  tree  of  knowledge  filled  the  soul  with 
4 


38  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

the  evil  and  false.  The  tree  of  life  was  the  way 
to  eternal  life;  the  tree  of  knowledge  was  the 
path  to  spiritual  death. 

We  observed  in  the  former  discourse  that  trees 
symbolize  perceptions  of  the  mind.     The  different 
kinds  of  trees  are  symbolic  of  the  different  phases 
of  perception.     The  tree  of  life,  therefore,  to  use 
a  more  definite  phrase,  was  love  perceived  as  the 
very  life  of  the  soul.     It  embodied  the  idea  of  a 
keen  perception,  on  the  part  of  the  Eden  dwellers, 
of  the  fact  that  the  Lord  constantly  flows  into  them 
with  his  love,  as  the  sun  flows  to  earth  with  its 
warmth ;  that  thence  the  tree  of  life  sprung  up  in 
their  inmost  hearts  as  the  governing  principle  of 
their  existence ;    and   that,  therefore,  they  lived 
and   loved,  and   were  wise  and   intelligent,  and 
thought  and  spoke,  really  from  the  Lord.     The 
tree  of  life  was  then  love  as  a  conscious  percep- 
tion of  the  Lord  in  their  own  lives.     Under  this 
perception  there  could  be  but  one  result.     Spir- 
itual truth  would  be  as  clear  to  them  as  the  sun 
in  its  shining.     As  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  hon- 
esty is  right  and  truthfulness  to  be  commended, 
for  one  to  see  intuitively  that  it  is  so,  with  them 
an}^  truth  of  a  spiritual  nature,  such  as  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  the  existence  of  God,  his 
goodness,  his  mercy,  his  eternal  providence,  the 
life  of  absolute  trust  in  Him,  the  belief  that  all 
his  ways  are  right — these  and'  all  other  true  spir- 


The  Two  Trees.  39 

itual  enunciations  would  be  received  without  a 
doubt  or  question,  and  perceived  intuitively.  This 
is  the  highest  faith  known.  It  is  the  only  testi- 
monv  which  admits  of  no  discussion.  When  man 
loves  God  above  all  things,  this  faith  is  his.  It  is 
ours  so  far  as  we  are  in  Eden,  no  further.  Love 
perceived  as  the  wisdom  of  life,  and  perceived  as 
implanted  by  the  Lord  for  that  purpose,  is  the 
tree  of  life.  With  this  planted  in  the  soul,  all 
argument  is  ended.     We  know  because  we  love. 

Now  the  tree  of  knowledge  would  be  the  exact 
opposite  of  this.  It  would  begin  to  grow  vigor- 
ously just  so  far  as  we  desired  to  be  in  our  own  self- 
intelligence.  The  pride  of  one's  own  intelligence 
is  a  terrible  thing.  The  desire  to  feel  that  one  is 
one's  own  and  not  the  Lord's,  the  vanitv  that 
would  say.  This  truth  I  reasoned  out  myself; the 
pride  that  would  claim  that  the  integrity  I  possess 
is  my  OAvn,  and  that  the  merit  of  my  good  deeds 
belongs  to  me  ;  the  self-sufficiency  that  asserts 
one's  self  as  the  origin  and  center  of  what  he  is 
and  feels  and  acquires,  is  the  tree  of  knowledge 
sending  its  roots  down  deep  VNithin  the  spirit.  It 
first  separates  its  life  from  God's  life ;  then  it 
claims  the  merit  of  its  goodness  and  understand- 
ing  ;  then  it  denies  God  and  makes  self  the  center, 
circumference,  and  all  in  all  of  its  own  little  world. 
It  loses  its  perception  of  love  to  the  Lord  as  the 
controllino:  element  of  its  nature  :  it  loses  sight  of 


40  •  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

the  Lord  ;  it  departs  from  his  spiritual  wisdom  of 
which  it  has  lost  the  inward  evidence  ;  it  tries  to 
confirm,  by  sensuous  evidence  and  natural  science, 
that  which  is  above  the  realm  of  sense  and  sci- 
ence ;  consequently  it  learns  to  deny  that,  the 
evidence  of  which  it  has  lost  the  capacity  to  weigh 
or  understand. 

Now,  as  the  tree  of  life  was  the  Lord  who  is 
love,  perceived  as  the  life  principle  of  the  soul, 
and  as  a  consequence,  spiritual  wisdom  in  its 
broadest  sense  intuitively  perceived,  the  tree  of 
knovvledge  was  self  and  the  consequent  self- 
derived  intelligence  perceived  as  the  all  in  all  of 
life,  and  sensuous  evidence  and  natural  science  the 
arbiter  of  spiritual  things.  Is  it  strange  that  the 
Lord  should  commend  the  one  and  forbid  the 
other  ?  The  one  in  his  eyes  was  life,  the  other 
death.  The  one  was  purity,  the  other  passion. 
The  one  was  love,  the  other  lust.  The  one  was 
wisdom,  the  other  insanity.  The  one  was  hu- 
mility, the  other  pride.  The  one  grasped  all 
humanity  in  its  loving  arms,  the  other  centered 
the  entire  universe  in  self.  The  one  shot  its 
branches  ever  upward  to  heaven,  the  other  sent 
its  roots  down  deep  into  hell.  That  was  why  the 
eating  of  all  the  trees  of  the  garden  was  com- 
mended, save  only  this. 

The  reason  why  it  is  called  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil,  is  because  in  eating  of 


The  Two   Trees.  41 

this  tree  man  comes  into  a  practical  knowledge 
of  the  distinction  between  the  two.  Previously 
he  lived  the  good.  Evil  to  him  was  only  disobe- 
dience, a  mere  name  for  an  unknown  quantity,  a 
something  of  which  he  had  no  experimental  knowl- 
edge. The  good  w^as  more  a  life  than  knowledge  ; 
the  evil  was  neither — was  nothino-.  But  tastinsr 
of  evil,  then  both  the  good  and  the  evil  came  into 
his  experience  as  a  knowledge,  as  things  to  be 
talked  over  and  compared.  Good  was  no  -longer 
a  life,  but  a  remembrance  ;  evil  was  no  longer  an 
unknown  quantity,  but  an  experience. 

And  now,  why  did  the  Lord  plant  the  two  trees 
in  Eden  ?  Why  not  the  tree  of  life  onlv  ?  Why 
was  man  placed  in  the  way  of  temptation  ? 

The  whole  lesson  is  the  doctrine  of  human  free- 
dom, taught  in  allegory  and  applied  to  the  most 
ancient  Church.  To  put  the  lesson  in  other  words, 
the  tree  of  life  was  obedience  to  the  law  of  love, 
the  tree  of  knowledge  was  disobedience  to  its 
divine  behests.  To  love  the  Lord  was  life,  to 
depart  from  that  love  was  spiritual  death.  jN'ow 
what  intrinsic  good  is  there  in  obedience,  if  there 
is  no  power  to  disobey  ?  Do  the  locks  and  bolts 
and  bars  of  our  prisons  indicate  purity  of  heart  ? 
Is  not  he  rather  the  good  man  who,  walking  free 
his  way  on  earth,  chooses  the  good  and  refrains 
from  evil  ?  Would  divine  bars  be  any  better  ? 
Had  He  said  to  man,  *'  You  shall  not  sin  ;  I  will 
4* 


42  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

take  from  you  the  power  of  sin,"  would  that  have 
made  a  perfect  man,  when  true  purity  is  the  vol- 
untary choice  of  good  ?  The  ox,  the  lamb  and 
the  dove  have  their  gentle  natures,  but  they  are 
beasts  and  birds.  Man  is  man  by  virtue  of  his 
freedom.  He  is  no  brute  to  live  and  die  without 
choice  or  reason.  Freedom  to  obey,  involves  the 
power  to  disobey.  Freedom  of  determination  is 
the  highest  gift  to  created  intelligence;  and  it 
implies  the  noblest  qualities,  the  greatest  happi- 
ness and  the  gTandest  good  the  Lord  can  give; 
and  God  could  not  have  made  his  noblest  creature 
— man,  with  an  angel's  destiny — and  denied  him 
that  which  lifts  him  above  the  brute  and  makes 
him  man,  the  noble  gift  of  freedom. 

Therefore  tlie  power  of  obedience  implies  the 
power  of  disobedience.  We  have  it,  and  none 
can  deny  the  fact.  If  we  had  it  not,  the  punish- 
ment of  crime  would  be  itself  a  crime.  That  we 
justify  our  courts  and  penitentiaries,  is  a  confes- 
sion of  our  belief  in  the  moral  freedom  of  man. 
When,  therefore,  the  Lord  commanded  man  to 
obey  his  law  of  love,  and  gave  him  the  power  to 
obey,  the  power  to  disobey  was  clearly  involved 
in  it ;  and  He  had  either  to  plant  both  trees  in 
the  ground  of  his  mind,  or  none.  He  had  either 
to  make  him  man  or  make  him  brute. 

It  is  for  man  wisely  to  use  this  gift  of  freedom. 
It  is  for  him  to  love  and  live,  not  to  center  his 


The  Two   Trees. 


43 


soul  on  self  and  die.  We  are  inheritors  of  this 
destiny.  Let  us  heed  the  lesson  well,  ponder  its 
great  privileges,  appreciate  its  divine  excellence, 
admire  its  tribute  to  our  heaven-born  powers, 
cling  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  win  the  Eden  which 
awaits  all  open,  receptive  and  obedient  souls. 


III. 

THE  WOMAN. 

And  the  Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  Jail 
%ipon  Adam,  and  he  ulept;  and  he  tool-  one 
of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead 
thereof.  And  the  rib,  vhich  the  Lord  God 
had  taken  from  nvm,  made  he  a  yeoman, 
and  brought  her  unto  the  man. — Gen.  ii. 
21,  22. 

E  have  arrived  in  the  two  previous  dis- 
courses at  certain  definite  conclusions, 
based  upon  reason  and  proved  by  Scrip- 
ture. Among  these  are  the  conclusion  that  the 
narrative  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  is  not  a  literal 
history  but  an  allegory ;  that  Adam  is  not  the 
name  of  an  individual,  but  a  Hebrew  term  signi- 
fying man,  or  mankind  in  general,  including  both 
sexes ;  that  the  Garden  of  Eden  was  not  a  para- 
dise of  visible  groves,  lawns  and  flowers,  but  the 
state  of  love,  innocence,  spiritual  intelligence  and 
delight  in  which  the  people  of  the  world's  young 
morning  dwelt ;  that  the  tree  of  life  was  not  a 
vegetable  production  planted  in  the  geometrical 
center  of  a  literal  garden  from  vv hence  man  drew 
his  natural  support,  with  ability  to  exist  on  earth 
forever,  but  was  love  or  the  Lord  as  the  control- 
ling element  of  the  mind,  with  a  perception  that 
all  life  is  from  Him  :  that  the  tree  of  knowledge 
was  not  a  natural  tree  which  bore  material  fruit, 

44 


The  Woman.  45 

the  eating  whereof  brought  sorrow,  pain  and 
death  into  the  world,  but  was  self-intelligent  and 
sensuous  life,  with  a  perception  of  self  as  the  only 
source  of  existence  and  the  only  thing  to  live  for ; 
that  the  eating  from  one  or  the  other  of  these, 
was  not  the  act  of  partaking  of  natural  fruit,  l3ut 
was  the  drawing  of  the  soul's  spiritual  sustenance 
from  love  of  God  or  love  of  self;  and  that  the 
command  in  relation  to  the  fruit  of  these  two 
trees,  was  not  a  precept  concerning  what  the  first 
man  ought  or  ought  not  to  have  eaten  as  healthful 
natural  food,  but  taught,  in  the  language  of  cor- 
respondence, a  lesson  setting  forth  that  law  of 
freedom  which  was  planted  from  the  first  in  human 
souls,  whereb}^  man  had  the  power  of  choosing  to 
live  from  the  Lord  and  inherit  eternal  life,  or  to 
live  from  sense  and  self  in  disobedience  of  God's 
command. 

History  furnishes  no  account  of  the  man  of  this 
Golden  Age.  The  traditions,  however,  of  many 
races  as  well  as  sacred  books  unerringly  point  to  it ; 
mythology  throws  a  glowing  radiance  of  arcadian 
beauty  around  its  life  of  simple  tastes  and  quiet 
happiness;  and  revelation  depicts  its  loves  and 
joys  in  divine  types  and  correspondences.  And 
so  w^e  are  taught  that  the  man  of  this  early  age 
was  the  very  embodiment  of  innocence  and  purity, 
with  a  meekness  and  humility  truly  angelic,  bask- 
ins:  in  the  verv  sunshine  of  the  Lord's  love.     Ho 


46  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

could  never,  it  is  true,  have  coped  with  the  world 
as  it  is  to-day.  To  place  such  a  man  in  our  pres- 
ent world,  would  be  almost  like  placing  a  lamb  in 
the  midst  of  wolves.  Ignorant,  as  the  world  now 
would  deem,  he  unquestionably  was.  Science 
and  art,  learning  and  skill,  luxury  and  extra\^a- 
gance,  as  they  permeate  all  present  life,  were  to 
him  unknown.  Without  doubt  nature  was  beau- 
tiful, and  the  bounteous  soil  with  its  spontaneous 
products  supplied  his  simple  wants.  It  was  not 
necessary  for  him  to  be  lashed  to  his  daily  round 
of  duty  by  the  whip  of  necessity,  nor  to  work  in 
repulsive  fields  of  labor  under  the  spur  of  want. 
Earth  was  sparsely  peopled,  and  fruitful  nature 
furnished  food  for  all. 

But  ignorant  as  he  was  in  worldly  things,  the 
now  hidden  mysteries  of  God  and  godly  conversa- 
tion, of  heaven  and  heavenly  life,  made  him  wise 
in  a  wisdom  far  above  that  of  to-day.  His  life 
was  a  round  of  spiritual  offices  to  those  about  him ; 
his  children  were  reared  as  heirs,  not  of  the 
world's  wealth  and  applause,  but  of  spiritual 
riches  and  the  approval  of  the  Lord.  It  was  in- 
deed the  childhood  of  the  race  ;  and  those  people 
of  the  past  were  very  children  of  the  Lord,  inno- 
cent, beautiful,  guileless,  angelic.  Godlike,  but  un- 
learned in  the  follies  which  the  world  prizes  and 
pursues  now,  unskilled  in  all  the  cunning  of  to-day. 

We  know  that  mankind  did  not  remain  in  that 


The  Woman.  47 

Innocent  state.  The  history  of  the  past — so  far 
back  as  human  chronicles  extend — is  little  more 
than  a  record  of  crime  ;  and  the  struggles  of  the 
present  are  but  efforts  to  rise  from  the  moral  mire 
into  which  the  world  is  plunged.  So  there  ha^ 
been  a  great  change.  Celestial  innocence  has 
given  place  to  selfishness  and  sensuality.  This 
decadence  occurred  in  prehistoric  times.  No 
earthly  chronicler  has  left  us  the  record  of  its 
progress.  It  could  not  have  been  sudden.  Great 
and  rapid  moral  changes  are  contrary  to  all  ex- 
perience. Nations  decay  by  successive  steps 
which  run  through  centuries.  Egypt,  Athens, 
Sparta,  Kome,  sunk  to  effeminacy,  indolence, 
crime  and  final  destruction,  by  gradual  departures, 
each  so  small  that  it  was  difficult  to  mark  its 
separate  existence ;  and  their  decline  was  so  slow 
as  to  make  their  complete  decadence  the  work  of 
a  hundred  or  a  thousand  vears. 

So  was  it,  probably,  that  the  most  ancient  peo- 
ple fell.  So  we  read  the  allegory  as  set  forth  in 
the  second  and  third  chapters  of  Genesis.  There 
was  a  first  step,  a  second,  and — a  thousandth. 
There  were  also  general  steps  measured  by  marked 
peculiarities  of  retrogression.  It  was  the  depart- 
ure from  rectitude  of  a  race,  and  not  that  of  an 
individual.  That  Church  of  innocence  and  peace 
may  have  lasted  many  centuries ;  how  many  w^e 
cannot  tell.    From  that  blissful  state  to  its  declen- 


48  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

« 

sion  and  final  fall,  probably  was  a  period  of  many 
centuries  more. 

The  first  departure  from  perfect  innocence  must 
have  been  very  slight.  Such  first  departures  al- 
ways are.  They  begin  in  things  so  small  that  we 
do  not  see  the  evil  in  them.  The  first  slight  in- 
clination is  the  preliminary  step  to  a  drunkard's 
grave  ;  the  first  boyish  cheat  at  marbles,  the  small 
beginning  that  leads  to  the  forger's  cell ;  the  first 
fruit  surreptitiously  obtained  from  the  mother's 
pantry,  the  trivial  offense  that  may  end  in  highway 
robbery.  It  is  plain  to  perceive  the  nature  of 
the  first  mistake  of  these  primitive  children  of 
God  ;  plain,  not  because  it  is  so  on  the  face  of  the 
literal  narrative,  but  because  the  symbols  by  which 
it  is  related  make  it  so. 

Up  to  this  time  the  description  is  that  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden  as  it  was  originally  created  by 
the  Lord.  All  that  from  a  spiritual  point  of  view 
is  lovely  and  lofty,  is  represented  in  the  corre- 
spondences employed.  By  them  we  determine 
the  character  of  the  people  whom  they  describe. 
But  something  new  is  introduced  into  Eden  now 
— a  feature  which  was  not  there  when  that  garden 
was  first  planted ;  which  was  not  there  when  man 
was  put  into  the  garden  thus  divinely  formed.  The 
woman  is  introduced  upon  the  scene. 

If  Eden  symbolizes  man's  state  of  love,  the 
garden  his  intelligence,  the  tree  of  life  the  Lord 


The  Woman.  49 

and  his  love  perceived  as  the  soul's  inmost  life, 
the  tree  of  knowledge,  the  life  of  self  and  sense 
forbidden  and  as  yet  unknown,  the  woman  mast 
be  symbolic  also.  What  was  her  spiritual  mean- 
ing", and  what  the  part  she  bore  in  this  history 
of  a  celestial  state  and  its  final  loss  ?  For  we 
must  remember  that  Adam  w^as  a  people,  race,  or 
Church.  Adam  w^as  male  and  female.  The  woman, 
therefore,  could  not  have  been  the  wife  of  Adam 
as  a  man  masculine,  but  must  signify  something 
that  was  adjoined  or  added  to  a  w^hole  people, 
after  they  had  for  indefinite  ages  enjoyed  this 
state  of  love  and  innocence.  As  Eden,  the  gar- 
den, the  rivers,  and  the  gold,  are  all  of  the  mind, 
so  must  the  woman  be  also.  She  must  be  some 
principle  or  attribute  which  man  had  not  pos- 
sessed before. 

Now,  w^hat  is  woman  as  a  representative  char- 
acter, whether  in  the  world,  in  tradition,  or  in  the 
Word  of  God  ?  Clearly  she  is  the  embodiment 
of  that  principle  of  the  soul  denominated  affection. 
In  all  mythology,  in  all  the  symbolic  poetry  of 
the  older  times,  in  all  the  traditions  of  the  ages, 
when  love,  devotion,  religion — any  tender  senti- 
ment of  heart  or  grace  of  spirit  which  was  born 
of  gentle  affections — w^as  symbolized,  delineated, 
mythologically  embodied,  painted,  or  sculptured, 
it  was  alw^ays  under  the  form  of  woman.  We 
know  that  the  world  now  is  pretty  well  upside 
5  D 


50  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

down,  and  that  nothing  remains  just  as  it  ought 
to  be ;  but  the  true  woman  is  still  devotion,  affec- 
tion, love.  That  is  her  distinguishing  character- 
istic as  compared  with  man ;  and  when  she  loses 
that,  she  loses  her  sublimest  feminine  quality  and 
distinctive  mark.  Of  the  various  noble  attributes 
of  soul,  that  is  the  noblest  of  all.  There  may  be 
masculine  women  and  feminine  men,  but  God  did 
not  originally  create  them  so. 

So  is  it  also  in  the  Bible.  The  woman  sym- 
bolizes whatever  is  characteristically  feminine. 
When  the  Church  is  spoken  of  in  reference  to  its 
affection  for  the  Lord,  although  composed  of  both 
men  and  women,  it  is  called  "the  Bride,  the 
Lamb's  wife  " ;  and  it  is  so  called,  because  of  the 
love  it  is  supposed  to  bear  to  the  Lord  as  its  hus- 
band. Thus  it  was  likened,  in  the  parable,  to  ten 
virgins  who  went  forth  to  meet  the  Bridegroom, 
that  is,  the  Lord.  It  was  called,  in  older  Scrip- 
ture, "the  virgin  daughter  of  Zion,"  and  "the 
virgin  daughter  of  Jerusalem."  The  woman  is 
the  embodiment  and  representative  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  affection. 

But  there  is  also  a  dark  side  to  this.  The  pas- 
sions, too,  were  represented  by  women.  Hatred 
and  pride  are  feminine.  But  these  are  aflTection 
inverted.  They  are  woman  in  the  opposite  of 
her  genuine  character.  They  are  the  feminine 
nature  as  it  displays   itself   when   demoralized. 


The   Woman.  51 

But  woman  as  a  sex  had  existed  in  Eden  pre- 
vious to  this  period  of  the  narrative.  In  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  where  the  creation  of  Adam 
is  spoken  of,  it  is  said  that  "  God  created  Adam 
in  his  own  image ;  in  the  image  of  God  created 
he  him,  male  and  female  created  he  them."  And 
this  was  before  man  was  placed  in  Eden.  For  it 
appears  that  after  men  were  made,  they  were  ele- 
vated, male  and  female,  into  the  Eden  state,  and 
placed  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord.  So  it  was  not 
a  wife  that  was  now  presented  to  man.  The  men 
of  that  Church  had  already  each  his  own.  Nor, 
evidently,  could  it  have  been,  as  a  symbol,  an 
affection  for  the  Lord  for  the  first  time  embodied 
in  those  people's  lives.  They  had  eaten  of  the 
tree  of  life,  and  love  was  alreadv  inscribed  on 
their  inmost  hearts.  It  was  something  added  to 
the  Eden  state..  It  was  an  affection  that  did  not 
originally  belong  there.  As  all  was  made  perfect 
at  the  planting  of  Eden,  anything  added  to  it  must 
have  been  slight  indeed,  and  not  known  as  such, 
but  still  the  first  step  on  the  downward  path. 

We  read,  indeed,  that  God  said,  "  It  is  not  good 
tliat  man  should  be  alone,"  or,  according  to  a  closer 
rendering  of  the  original  Hebrew, ''  It  is  not  good 
to  man  that  he  should  be  alone."  The  implica- 
tion is,  that  to  man,  in  his  then  condition,  this 
being  alone  did  not  seem  to  be  a  good  thing.  He 
began  to  want  something  that  as  yet  he  did  not 


52  Pc    GtiJrdem  «f  Hicn. 

bave.  He  w^is  somewlttt  discDntemte^i-  And  tben 
h  is  added  tint  tbe  Jjord  said.  ''I  wHl  make  a 
he-^HDeel  for  Imii.^  But  Alios  Mcmtanus^  one  oi 
the  best  authorities  in  Hefatew  idioiiiatie  dttnil- 

ties,  gives  as  tbe  exaet  translatioii.  '"  I  wiH  .make 
OEte.  as  it  wer>^  himself^  befoie  idm.**  Tbe  prosper 
reoderiDr  of  tbe  irbole  passage,  to  pat  it  in  idio- 
matie  EnrlisK.  septus  to  lie  this :  "And  the  Jjord. 
God  said.  It  seemeth  not  sood  to  man  that  he 
shooM  be  alone ;  I  will  make  tm  him  (me  which 
shall  be,  as  it  w«e  bimsdC.  before  him.^  Th^ 
helps  tisnm*  in  teoB?  the  .l«ih»ls««.  Ad». 
in  bis  higb  Eden  siare.  had  been  allo^^tib^  the 
Lord's.  He  Lad  no  conscioo^-lrred  selflbood; 
s^:*  higt  and  bolr  were  tbe  peofile  ci  that  age ; 
so  ek>se  were  tber  to  tbe  Lord ;  so  receptive  of 
tbe  Lord's  iii^  and  inJLaenee :  so  compleleir  nnder 
tbe  eontnol  ol'  his  Spirit,  tbat  tber  bad  a  distinct 
pcfteptkm^  a  realization  firow  actual  experience 
and  knowledge,  tbat  tieT  wer?  simplr  firing  out 
<m  earth  the  Lord's  inward  inflneiBce.  It  is  not 
more  certain  to  i£S^  as  a  p^Tskal  &et^  that  the 
hlood  is  cooT^ng  tbrongh  omr  veins  and  giving: 
life  to  tbe  whole  body.  £raAi  tbe  heart  to  the  nV 
mo^st  exireiiiities.  than  it  was  to  thesis  as  a  spir- 
itual fact,  tbat  tbe  Lord's  minence  and  life  penme- 
aied  heart.  so«l  and  mind,  deseefi^ding  into  eaeb 
and  every  act. 

It  was  a  igkrioiss  life !     Yeu  tae  restk^  spirit 


The  Woman,  53 

of  man,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  freedom  of  choice 
was  his,  began  to  feel  that  he  would  a  little  rather 
not  experience  quite  so  great  a  dependence  on  the 
Lord.  He  said,  as  it  were,  ''  Oh,  how  I  would 
like  to  experience  this  thing  called  life,  as  my 
own !  How  pleasant  it  would  be  to  feel  that  / 
think,  I  will,  /  desire,  1  speak,  /  act,  and  not  to 
be  always  so  strongly  conscious  that  it  is  a  hiaher 
influence  to  which  I  am  yielding.  I  feel  now,  that 
in  all  this  love  it  is  God's  love  in  me,  that  in  all 
this  goodness  and  intelligence  it  is  God's  good  and 
truth  within  me,  notwithstanding  the  sensation 
that  I  think  and  do  as  of  myself;  how  much 
better  to  carry  the  consciousness  that  /am  loving, 
/am  good,  /am  intelligent  and  wise." 

The  phrase,  "to  be  alone,"  in  most  ancient 
times,  was  used  to  denote  the  most  intimate  union 
with  the  Lord.  It  was  a  consciousness  of  Him 
alone  as  the  source  of  life,  goodness  and  intelli- 
gence. It  was  a  rendering  to  Him  alone  the  meed 
of  all  good  gifts.  It  was  an  abiding  in  Him  alone 
as  the  only  stay  and  rest  in  all  the  thino-s  of  life. 
The  first  deviation  consisted,  it  seems,  in  a  slight 
discontent  with  that  position,  and  in  a  desire  to 
mingle  self-consciousness  in  this  respect  with  the 
higher  consciousness.  It  would  be  no  desire  to 
deny  the  Lord  as  the  Creator  of  life  and  the  Giver 
of  all  good  gifts,  but  a  willingness  to  recognize 
that  truth  as  a  matter  of  faith,  w^hile  the  feeling 
5* 


54  The  Garden  of  Edeyi. 

would  be  that  the  man  himself  was  the  author  of 
his  own  good,  and  the  discoverer  of  the  truths 
which  constituted  his  own  intelligence.     It  did 
not  seem  to  him  good  to  be  alone  in  the  Lord, 
but  he  wanted  himself  or  his  selfhood  to  be  more 
consciously  before  himself.     It  was  a  leaning  to- 
ward the  love  of  self-consciousness.    It  was  enter- 
ing into  an  affection  for  himself  and  the  things  of 
his  selfhood,  that  is,  those  of  his  own  personality. 
Not  but  that  he  had  an  individuality  or  a  selfhood 
before,  but  that  his  life  was  so  pure  and  disinter- 
ested that  he  was,  as  it  were,  in  all  his  meditations, 
desires  and  acts,  quite  unconscious  of  self.    There- 
fore in  this  divine  parable  is  it  written  :  "And  the 
Lord  God  said,  It  seemeth  not  good  to  man  to  be 
alone ;  I  will  make  him  one  that  shall  be,  as  it 
were  himself,  before  him.''     And  from  this  time, 
as  the  first  beginning  of  his  fall,  man  began,  in- 
stead of*  having  the  Lord  and  his  neighbor  con- 
stantly before  him,  to  have  himself  before  him. 

Now  as  woman  throughout  the  Word  is  em- 
ployed as  the  symbol  of  affection  in  its  many  vary- 
ing phases,  and  as  this  divinely  inspired  narrative 
is  in  the  language  of  pure  symbolism,  this  affec- 
tion for  self  was  represented  by  the  woman.  And 
when  it  is  said  that  the  Lord  brought  the  woman 
unto  the  man,  it  is  to  be  understood  that  He  per- 
mitted man,  created  as  he  was  a  free  being,  to 
have  his  selfhood  as  a  constantly  conscious  thing 
before  his  mind. 


The  Woman,  55 

The  term  selfhood  does  not  fully  express  the 
idea  intended  to  be  conveyed,  but  it  is  the  best 
English  word  at  hand.  The  Latin  word  jwo- 
'prium,  or  the  French  le  ^wopre,  would  exactly 
express  it.  The  idea  is  that  man  has  an  individu- 
ality of  his  own.  Then  he  has  also  that  which  is 
the  Lord's  in  him.  Somewhat  as  the  earth  has  a 
material  of  its  own — its  soil  and  rock  and  sand. 
But  the  sun  flows  to  earth  with  its  light  and 
heat,  and  gives  it  vitality.  The  earth  has  its 
own  separate  existence  ;  but  let  the  sun  cease  to 
permeate  its  atmospheres,  waters,  and  soils,  and 
it  were  a  mere  dead  thing.  So  the  soul  of  man 
has  its  own  personality ;  but  let  the  Lord  and 
his  life  cease  to  flow  in,  and  there  would  be  no 
flowers  of  intelligence  or  fruits  of  use  to  make 
beautiful  the  garden  of  his  mind.  With  the  sun, 
the  earth  blossoms  as  a  rose ;  without  the  sun  it 
were  a  desert.  With  the  Lord,  man's  mind  is  a 
Garden  of  Eden ;  without  Him  it  is  a  wilderness 
of  self,  sensuality  and  sin.  Therefore  it  was  a 
beautiful  thing  when  man  lived  in  the  sunlight  of 
the  conscious  presence  of  the  Lord;  it  was  a  sad 
step  when  he  descended  into  his  selfhood  or  pro- 
prium.  When  this  affection  for  proprium  was 
added  to  his  Eden  life — when  the  woman,  by  his 
own  desire,  was  brought  to  the  man,  it  was  a  step 
downward. 

This  state  of  decline  is  represented  by  the  deep 


56  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

sleep  which  fell  upon  Adam.  To  believe  that  a 
man  called  Adam  actually  went  into  a  deep  natural 
sleep  wherein  a  rib  was  taken  from  him  which 
was  built  into  a  woman,  requires  extraordinary 
credulity.  But  to  think  of  the  sleep  into  which 
the  early  Church  fell,  as  a  growing*  obliviousness 
to  the  higher  life  and  the  Lord  as  its  center  and 
soul,  is  an  idea  entirely  consonant  with  the  style 
in  which  the  Scripture  is  written,  and  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  given.  To  this  day  when  we  see  an 
individual  or  a  Church  manifesting  indifference  to 
religious  things,  we  say  it  has  fallen  asleep.  So 
the  entrance  of  mankind  into  the  state  of  the  pro- 
prium,  was,  in  comparison  with  the  spiritually 
wakeful  life  of  the  higher  state,  denominated  a 
deep  sleep. 

The  rib  or  bone  which  the  Lord  took,  has  some- 
what the  same  meaning  as  the  woman,  for  it  was 
builded  into  a  woman.  It  will  be  seen  from  the 
marginal  reference,  that  the  proper  rendering  is 
not,  of  the  rib  "  made  he  a  woman,"  but  '*  builded 
he  a  woman."  To  build,  in  the  Scripture  sense, 
is  to  raise  up  that  which  is  degraded.  Bones  are 
comparatively  dead  things  ;  flesh  is  a  living  thing. 
Bones  signify  what  is  spiritually  dead ;  flesh 
what  is  spiritually  alive.  The  rib  means  the  self- 
hood, in  itself  a  dead  thing ;  but  by  closing  up 
the  flesh  instead  thereof,  and  building  it  into  a 
woman,  is  meant  the  selfhood  vitalized,  endued 


The  Woman.  57 

with  somewhat  of  spiritual  life,  or  endowed  with 
heavi'iily  affection ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Lord  was 
not  willing,  if  man  was  determined  to  enter  upon 
a  state  in  which  self  should  be  the  conscious  ele- 
ment of  his  existence,  to  leave  his  selfhood  dry 
and  hard  and  lifeless.  If  man  was  determined. to 
depart  from  the  primal  order  of  his  life,  He  would 
give  him  in  that  departure  as  much  of  spiritual 
life  as  possible.  And  He  builded  his  self-con- 
sciousness, selfhood,  or  proprium,  into  a  form  of 
living  affection.  The  dead  proprium  symbolized 
by  the  rib,  was  builded  into  a  spiritualized  affection 
adjoined  to  this  self-conscious  life,  symbolized  by 
the  woman. 

Thus  was  it,  in  this  divine  parable  of  Eden, 
that  the  Lord  took  the  rib — it  is  not  said  that  He 
took  it  out  of  or  away  from  Adam — and  closed  up 
the  flesh  in  the  place  thereof,  and  built  it  into  a 
woman  whom  He  brought  to  the  man.  Since 
that  day  man  has  been  more  or  less  under  the 
dominion  of  the  proprium.  He  has  thought  and 
loved  to  think  of  life  and  its  surroundings  as  his 
own.  If  at  any  time  he  has  risen  above  this  state 
and  prostrated  himself  before  the  throne  of  God, 
be  may  oft  and  again  have  been  ready  to  acknowl- 
edge the  Lord's  position  as  the  center  and  fountain 
of  all,  but  he  still  has  walked,  in  some  sense,  with 
himself  forever  before  his  eyes.  Not  that  the  con- 
sciousness of  personal  identity  was  then  or  ever, 


58  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

on  the  principle  of  the  Hindu  Nirvana,  swallowed 
up  in  the  all-engulfing  infinitude  of  God  ;  but  that, 
at  the  first,  with  a  clear  perception  of  his  own  iden- 
tity and  freedom  as  a  finite  being,  he  had  so  full  a 
consciousness  of  the  Lord  as  the  life  power  of  his 
soul,  and  of  the  Lord's  influence  as  thrilling  his 
entire  existence,  that  his  life  was  raised  in  all 
things  above  the  selfhood,  and  that  he  did  not 
recognize  this  last  as  a  motive  or  element  at  all 
entering  into  the  joy  of  living. 

Would  we  could  return  to  that  state!  We  may 
— under  different  conditions,  Indeed  ;  for  the  fall 
of  the  human  race  has  rendered  us  of  a  different 
genius  from  that  of  our  remote  progenitors ;  but  to 
all  it  is  given  to  rise  above  the  proprium.  To  aid 
us  in  this,  is  the  true  object  of  religion  or  relig- 
ious teaching.  To  succeed  in  it,  is  to  attain  the 
truly  Christian  life.  There  is  nothing  else  worth 
living  or  striving  for.  Happy  they  who  can  see 
this  truth  and  live  in  the  light  of  it  I 

It  is  true  that  this  portion  of  the  parable  is  less 
easy  of  comprehension  than  some  others  ;  that  its 
meaning  does  not  lie  quite  so  close  to  the  surface. 
To  some  the  explanation  may  seem  abstruse.  But 
it  must  be  remembered  that,  as  the  history  of 
Eden  is  purely  symbolic,  it  must  be  so  in  all  its 
parts.  As  it  is  a  history  of  minds  and  states,  the 
sleep  and  the  rib  and  the  woman  must  denote  in- 
ternal and  mental  conditions.     The  law  of  corre- 


The  Woman,  59 

spondence  according  to  which  the  Scripture  is  writ- 
ten, is  consistent,  whether  applied  to  Genesis,  Isaiah 
or  John.  As  this  law  is  alike  applicable  to  the 
unfolding  of  the  true  meaning  of  Genesis  and  all 
other  portions  of  sacred  Writ,  we  may  be  sure 
that  we  are  treading  on  safe  ground.  The  woman, 
in  her  relation  to  Adam,  will  appear  again.  She 
was  the  first  to  listen  to  the  seductive  voice  of  the 
serpent ;  the  first  to  eat  of  the  forbidden  tree,  and 
the  first  to  receive  the  curse.  In  tracing  these 
events  we  shall  find  we  have  not  mistaken  her 
symbolic  character. 

The  lesson  of  the  text  is,  that  evil  had  its  origin 
in  human  selfhood,  and  that  the  first  step  is  the 
mother  of  sin.  Have  we  ever  thought  how  grand 
a  thing  life  would  be,  were  it  elevated  above  the 
realm  of  self?  How  soon  its  cankering  cares 
were  gone,  how  far  its  shadows  sent  away,  how 
dried  of  tears  its  weeping  eyes,  how  soothed  to 
smiles  its  face  of  sorrow,  were  it  only  freed  from 
this  constant  sense  of  self!  Could  we  not  be 
ourselves,  yet  live  for  others  ?  Could  we  not  con- 
sciously receive  the  beautiful  life  of  the  Lord,  yet 
pour  it  ever  forth  into  the  hearts  of  those  around 
us  ?  Could  we  not  walk  the  earth  in  joy,  yet 
know  that  all  our  joys  were  resting  in  the  bless- 
inirs  we  had  shed  over  others'  lives  ?  How  far 
the  world  is  from  this  to-day !  How  long  the 
path  to  return  to  the  point  from  whence  the  down- 


60 


The  Garden  of  Eden, 


ward  journey  of  the  race  began  I  But,  after  all, 
it  is  the  only  true  religion ;  and  we  will  never  see 
this  world  a  Christian  world,  until  we  ourselves 
become  a  part  of  its  great  salvation  from  the  over- 
mastering love  of  self.  Let  us  pray  for  it,  work 
for  it,  gather  what  fruits  we  can ;  for  as  the  first 
step  led  from  Eden  away,  the  first  retracing  step 
will  lead  to  Eden  again. 


IV. 


THE  SERPENT. 

Now  the  serpent  was  more  subtle  than  any 
beast  of  the  field  which  the  Lord  God.  had 
made.— Gen.  iii.  1. 

^'*^^E    have   thus  far    followed  the   story  of 


i 


^H/|vM  Eden  from  its  original  planting  to  the 
^^^  period  of  man's  first  departure  from  the 
state  of  his  primitive  innocence.  We  have  found 
it  to  be,  not  a  literal  history,  but  an  allegory  con- 
structed in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  sacred 
symbolism.  We  have  seen  that  it  relates  to  no 
one  individual,  but  to  the  primitive  race,  or  the 
first  Church  on  earth.  We  have  learned  that 
Adam  was  a  people,  not  a  person  ;  that  the  Garden 
of  Eden  was  their  state  of  love,  intelligence  and 
happiness,  and  not  a  particular  place.  We  have 
dwelt  upon  the  spiritual  beauty  of  the  life  of 
those  people,  and  the  wise  innocence  of  their  con- 
dition, and  have  taken  particular  notice  of  how 
supreme  in  their  hearts  was  the  principle  of  love 
to  the  Lord.  We  have  seen  that  the  tree  of  life  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden  was  no  natural  tree,  but  the 
Lord  and  his  love  central  in  the  mind  as  its  only 
faith ;  and  that  eating  from  the  tree  was  living  from 
this  principle  and  nourishing  the  whole  nature  with 
6  61 


62  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

this  spiritually  invigorating  food  of  the  soul.  Of 
this,  so  good,  so  redolent  of  eternal  life,  so  joy- 
giving,  man  had  been  commanded  to  eat  and  live. 
But  as  the  tree  of  life  was  love  of  the  Lord  and 
heavenly  things,  the  tree  of  knowledge  was  love 
of  self  and  the  world.  These  principles  man  was 
commanded  not  to  appropriate  as  the  food  of  his 
soul ;  of  this  tree  he  was  commanded  not  to  eat, 
for  in  doing  so  he  would  die. 

For  a  long  time  man  experienced  the  perfect 
life  of  Eden.     But  he  at  last  began  to  incline  to 
the  selfhood.     He  had  enjoyed  the  constant  per- 
ception of  the  Lord's  life  and  influence  controlling 
his  affections,  thoughts  and  actions.     He  began 
to  desire  an  independent  life.     He  wanted  more 
self-consciousness.      The   Lord    always    permits 
man,  in  moral  affairs,  ta  have  his  own  way  ;  if 
he  did  not,  there  would  be  no  human  freedom. 
This  permission  of  the  Lord  in  reference  to  the 
earliest  Church,  is  represented  by  his  taking  the 
rib  and  building  it  into  a  woman.      The  rib — 
hard,  dry,  bony,  in  itself  dead— symbolizes  the 
self-hood,  self-consciousness,  or  proprium  of  man. 
His  building  it  into  a  woman,  represents  his  build- 
ing of  this  selfhood  into  a  thing  of  spiritual  affec- 
tion, and  thus  endowing  it  with  the  higher  life  or 
making  it  a  living  thing.     And  the  woman  be- 
came the  symbol  of  the  selfhood  vivified,  elevated, 
spiritualized.     When  man  inclined  to  come  into 


The  Serpent.  63 

this  state  of  more  intense  self-consciousness,  the 
Lord  in  his  love  so  arranged  the  change,  and  kept 
his  finger,  as  it  were,  on  the  balance-wheel  of  his 
nature,  so  as  to  render  the  selfhood  itself  capable 
of  being  vivified,  elevated  and  regenerated,  in 
order  that  it  might  be  filled  with  love  to  God  and 
all  heavenly  afi'ections.  So  man  was  not  yet  lost. 
The  rib  which  svmbolized  the  self-consciousness 
vitalized  with  spiritual  afi"ection,  was  so  given  to 
the  man. 

Thus  far  the  allegory  of  Eden,  as  we  have  up 
to  this  point  studied  its  meaning. 

It  is  now  to  be  observed  that  the  state  of  the 
Church,  as  still  being  one  of  great  innocence,  is 
figuratively  described  by  the  words,  "  And  they 
were  both  naked,  the  man  and  his  wife,  and  were 
not  ashamed."  There  is  no  gross  meaning  what- 
ever attaching  to  this  language.  Nakedness  is  a 
Scripture  expression  for  innocence.  It  is  a  symbol 
as  classic  as  it  is  ancient,  and  pervades  the  paint- 
ings and  sculpture  of  Romans  and  Greeks.  Those 
people  were  still  innocent — so  runs  the  allegory — 
and  in  their  lives  of  comparative  purity,  notwith- 
standing they  had  come  into  a  state  of  greater 
self-reliance  and  larger  self-consciousness,  had 
naught  whereof  to  be  ashamed. 

But  here  there  is  a  change  of  ex]3ression,  which, 
while  it  does  not  appear  in  the  authorized  English 
version  of  the    Bible,    is   very   marked    in   the 


64  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

original  Hebrew.  We  have  seen  that  the  word 
Adam  signifies  man  in  general,  or  mankind,  with- 
out relation  to  sex.  But  there  are  in  Hebrew,  as 
in  most  of  the  ancient  languages,  two  words  for 
man,  while  in  English  we  have  but  one.  One 
is  Adam,  and  the  other  Ish.  Adam  is  man  or 
mankind.  Ish  is  an  individual  male  person. 
Now,  in  sacred  allegory  these,  two  terms  are 
used  for  different  purposes.  While  Adam  repre- 
sents the  Church  at  large,  Ish  signifies  the  mascu- 
line principle  of  the  mind.  That  is  to  say,  man 
as  distinguished  from  woman  when  symbolically 
used,  typifies  that  principle  which  renders  his  a 
masculine  mind.  In  this  sense,  as  woman  is 
affection,  man  is  intellect.  As  woman,  in  true 
order,  is  the  embodiment  of  all  that  is  beautiful, 
graceful  and  affectionate,  man  is  the  embodiment 
of  all  that  is  strong,  rugged  and  intellectual. 
Woman  is  not  strong  in  argument,  but  she  is 
keen  in  perception.  Man's  intuitions  are  unre- 
liable, but  his  reasoning  powers  are  peculiarly 
vigorous.  The  strong  work  of  the  world,  whether 
physical  or  mental,  will  always  be  done  by  man ; 
the  refinements  of  life  and  its  gentler  ministra- 
tions will  ever  belons;  to  woman.  The  world's 
learning  and  its  progress  in  science  and  the 
mechanic  arts  and  in  the  intellectual  part  of  re- 
ligion, will  be  urged  forward  by  man  ;  but  it  will 
become  good  and  great  in  the  higher  sense,  through 
the  sweet  and  gentle  influence  of  woman. 


The  Serpent.  65 

In  saying  that  man  is  intellect  and  Avoman  affec- 
tion, it  is  not  meant  that  woman  may  not  be  in- 
tellectual and  man  affectionate ;  but  that  in  the 
one,  intellect  is  the  predominant  characteristic, 
and  gives  tone  to  the  whole  nature  ;  while  in  the 
other,  affection  is  the  predominant  characteristic, 
and  brings  all  the  other  faculties  of  the  mind  be- 
neath its  sway.  Nor  is  it  meant  that  we  do  not 
sometimes  see  all  this  reversed.  But  the  excep- 
tions do  not  overturn  or  disprove  the  rule ;  nor 
has  even  the  degeneracy  of  these  latter  days  suc- 
ceeded in  reversing',  to  any  large  extent,  the  well- 
defined  distinction  between  the  sexes. 

So  also  in  each  mind,  whether  of  man  or  woman, 
there  is  the  masculine  and  feminine  element.  The 
man  has  his  intellectual  faculties,  and  his  affec- 
tional  or  sentimental  nature.  But  in  him,  if  he 
be  a  true  man,  the  first  are  in  control,  and  give 
tone,  vigor  and  character  to  all  else  within  him. 
The  woman  may  also  be  endowed  with  great  in- 
telligence ;  but  if  she  be  a  true  woman,  the  per- 
ceptions, sentiments  and  affections  will  give  tone, 
vigor  and  character  to  all  else  within  her.  This 
has  been  recognized  in  the  civilization  of  all  ages  ; 
and  man  stands,  by  the  very  law  of  his  creation, 
as  the  type  of  intellect,  and  woman  as  that  of 
affection.  In  inspired  writings  these  types  are 
more  pronounced  than  in  fable  or  tradition.  And 
we  find  that  a  sudden  change  is  made  in  the  latter 
6-  E 


66  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

part  of  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis.  Up  to 
this  time  Adam  had  been  spoken  of;  now  the 
term  is  Ish,  or  man  as  distinguished  from  woman. 
This  is  because  the  two  elements  of  the  mind  of 
that  time — elements  common  to  the  mind  in  all 
ages — are  here  distinctively  brought  into  view. 
As  a  historical  narrative,  this  would  be  a  contra- 
diction for  which  no  possible  reason  could  be  given ; 
bat  as  an  allegory  in  which  the  two  distinctive 
elements  of  human  nature,  each  of  vrhich  per- 
formed its  part  in  bringing  about  the  fall  of  man, 
are  brought  prominently  into  view,  it  is  a  neces- 
sity. 

Having  enlarged  upon  this  point  w^hich  will  be 
found  to  have  a  strong  bearing  upon  what  follows, 
and  to  be  necessary  to  a  fall  understanding  of  it, 
let  us  next  consider  wiiat  this  serpent  was,  which 
was  the  cause  of  so  great  disaster  to  the  Church 
in  Eden. 

In  ancient  times  those  were  called  serpents  who 
had  more  confidence  in  sensual  things  than  in  re- 
vealed truth ;  and  it  was  not  only  customary  then 
to  compare  the  sensual  principle  of  human  nature 
to  the  serpent,  but  to  call  it  so.  But  let  us  be 
sure  that  we  fully  understand  the  manner  in 
which  we  use  this  term.  The  word  sensuality 
is  so  commonly  mixed  in  the  mind  with  ideas 
pertaining  to  the  indulgence  of  the  appetite,  or 
to  luxurious  and  carnal  pleasures,  that  in  using  it 


The  Serpent  67 

the  first  thought  is  apt  to  revert  to  things  of  this 
nature.  This  is  only  a  limited  application  of  the 
term.  Properly,  everything  is  sensual  that  per- 
tains to  the  senses.  One  may  be  exceedingly 
sensual,  and  yet  not  given  to  luxuriousness,  glut- 
tony or  wine-bibbing.  The  sensual  man,  in  the 
broader  view,  is  one  who  believes  onlv  on  the 
evidence  of  his  senses.  He  will  deny  the  exist- 
ence of  spirit  because  he  cannot  see  it  with  his 
natural  eyes  or  touch  it  with  his  natural  fingers. 
He  will  deny  the  life  after  death,  because  it  has 
not  been  made  manifest  to  his  bodily  senses.  He 
will  deny  all  things  supernatural,  because,  being 
neither  visible  nor  tangible,  they  cannot  be  chem- 
ically analyzed,  nor  probed  by  the  instruments  of 
the  surgeon.  He  will  deny  even  a  God,  because 
He  is  not  visible  to  the  natural  eve,  and  cannot 
be  seen  working  out  his  problems  of  creation  and 
preservation  according  to  his  own  sensuous  con- 
ception. The  sensual  man  has  never  allowed  the 
spiritual  plane  of  his  mind  to  be  opened.  He  has 
no  spiritual  grasp.  He  cannot  comprehend  a  spir- 
itual idea  when  presented  to  him.  He  knows  about 
the  things  of  earth  because  he  sees  them — because 
they  are  palpable  to  his  senses.  He  will  even  be- 
lieve things  he  has  not  seen,  so  far  as  they  are 
subjects  of  sensuous  evidence  ;  and  will  accept  the 
testimony  of  other  people  when  their  reasonings 
are  based  upon  natural  science,  such  as  chemistry, 


68  The  Garden  uf  Eden. 

mechanics  or  mathematics.  But  not  a  ray  of  spir- 
itual light  penetrates  his  understanding,  and  he 
denies  the  supernatural  simply  because  it  is  super- 
natural. He  is  immersed  in  sensual  things ;  he 
lives  for  this  world  only,  because  this  only  he  sees 
and  feels.  To  him  it  is  the  extremest  folly  to  at- 
tempt to  cultivate  the  spiritual  part  of  our  nature, 
or  to  live  for  the  great  Hereafter. 

The  picture  thus  drawn  is  that  of  the  extreme 
sensual  man.  It  has  innumerable  modifications. 
The  sensual  principle  may  exercise  control  in 
various  degrees.  It  may  control  the  man  largely 
or  only  to  a  slight  extent.  It  may  make  him 
doubtful  of  spiritual  things,  without  bringing  him 
to  the  point  of  absolute  denial.  It  may  make  him 
indifferent,  without  rendering  him  a  conscious 
skeptic.  It  may  keep  him  at  the  point  to  which 
he  has  been  educated,  without  permitting  him  to 
go  beyond  it.  It  may  bind  him  with  the  chains 
of  religious  tradition,  and  forbid  him  from  soaring 
into  the  realms  of  genuine  truth.  Christians  even 
may  be  sensual  men ;  and  rest  their  faith  on  his- 
torical evidence,  or  on  sensuous  miracles.  Even 
apostleship  had  its  sensuous-minded  Thomas,  who 
would  not  believe  in  the  risen  Saviour  unless  he 
could  see  in  his  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and 
lay  his  finger  upon  them,  and  thrust  his  hand  into 
his  side. 

The  sensual  principle  is  good   so  far  as  it  is 


The  Serpent.  69 

under  the  control  of  the  spiritual,  but  it  is  bad 
when  it  sets  up  for  itself.  In  the  order  of  creation 
as  related  in  the  allegory  of  Genesis,  Adam  was 
given  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over 
all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth.  The  earth  symbolized 
the  mind ;  the  fish  of  the  sea,  the  knowledges 
of  things  gathered  in  the  memory ;  the  fowls 
of  the  air,  the  thoughts  that  sweep  like  winged 
creatures  across  the  mental  firmament;  the  cattle 
or  beasts,  affections  of  various  kinds ;  the  creep- 
ing things,  the  lowest  forms  or  principles  of 
the  mind,  including  the  serpent,  its  sensual 
principle.  Everything  was  good  while  man  had 
dominion  over  it.  Even  the  sensual  element 
of  his  being  led  him  to  interest  himself  in  his 
natural  wants,  provide  for  himself  food,  clothing 
and  habitation,  and  study  the  things  of  earth  as 
representatives  of  heavenly  things,  and  proofs  of 
the  Lord's  mercy,  love  and  care.  But  when  the 
sensual  principle,  instead  of  being  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  higher  and  properly  human,  assumed 
dominion  over  it,  then  it  was  a  very  bad  thing. 
The  serpent  trailed  its  way  through  the  Eden 
state  of  the  most  ancient  Church,  until  it  became 
wiser  than  woman,  wiser  than  man,  wiser  than 
God ;  and  then  Eden  became  a  desolation^  and 
man  lost  the  impress  of  his  Maker. 


70  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

The  most  ancient  people  denominated  the  sen- 
sual nature  the  serpent,  because  as  serpents  live 
close  to  the  earth,  so  does  the  sensual  principle 
cling"  closely  to  the  world,  to  nature,  and  things  of 
sense.  The  symbol  is  maintained  throuo-hout  the 
Scripture.  Our  Lord  called  the  Pharisees,  ''  Ye 
serpents ;  ye  generation  of  vipers,"  in  relation  to 
their  having  made  religion  a  mere  thing  of  sensu- 
ous ceremony.  The  devil  is  called  a  serpent  (Rev. 
xii.  9),  because  of  his  desire  to  overthrow  the  do- 
minion of  the  spiritual  and  celestial  in  man,  and 
to  seduce  him  by  specious  and  sensuous  reasonings. 
And  these  reasonings,  arguments  and  seductive 
influences  of  the  sensual  nature,  are  denominated 
in  Scripture  the  poison  of  the  serpent  (Ps.  Iviii. 
3-6).  Therefore  in  this  allegory  of  Eden,  the  ser- 
pent is  said  to  be  more  subtle  than  any  beast  of 
the  field  w^hich  the  Lord  God  had  made  ;  because, 
of  all  cunning  arts,  of  all  sophistry  and  sophistical 
reasoning,  of  all  promises  that  are  sweet  to  the 
ear  and  destructive  to  the  soul,  those  employed  by 
the  sensual  nature  and  by  sensuous  men  are  the 
most  sweet,  cunning  and  sophistical,  yet  false  and 
soul  destroying.  The  serpent  of  the  soul — the 
sensuous  principle — is  the  most  false  and  subtle 
of  all  the  beasts  of  the  field,  of  all  the  affections  of 
the  mind. 

Yet  the  Lord  made  it.  But  He  made  it  good. 
He  put  it  in  its  place.     He  placed  it  under  the 


>1 


The  Serpent.  71 

dominion  of  man,  and  man  recognized  this.  For 
when  it  is  said  that,  "  Out  of  the  ground  the 
Lord  God  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and 
every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  brought  them  unto 
Adam  to  see  what  he  v^^ould  call  them  ;  and  what- 
soever Adam  called  every  living  creature,  that 
was  the  name  thereof,"  a  very  suggestive  truth  is 
couched  under  the  svmbolism.  It  means  that 
Adam,  or  primitive  man,  was  aware  of  the  ex- 
istence of  the  various  affections  of  the  mind  signi- 
fied by  the  different  beasts  of  the  field,  and  of  the 
various  forms  of  thought  signified  by  every  fowl 
of  the  air.  By  the  Lord's  bringing  the  beasts 
and  birds  to  him,  is  meant  that  in  the  providence 
of  God  his  various  forms  of  affection  and  thought 
were  permitted  to  arrange  themselves  before  his 
mind  as  matters  of  conscious  knowledge  and  re- 
flection. But  by  Adam's  giving  them  names,  is 
signified  that  he  could  call  them  all  bv  their  riaht 
names,  that  is,  could  recognize  their  comparative 
value  and  quality,  and  assign  to  each,  with  quick 
intuition,  its  proper  sphere. 

For  every  name  in  olden  times  expressed  the 
character  or  quality  of  the  object  named ;  and 
to  name  a  thing  was  to  designate  its  character 
or  determine  its  quality.  For  S3'mbolism  was 
founded  on  the  verv  nature  of  thin2:s,  and  the 
man  of  that  time  was  able  to  analyze  the  attri- 
butes of  his  soul,  and  to  name  each  correctly,  and 


72  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

estimate  its  relative  value,  and  assign  to  it  its 
proper  rank.  Thus  the  lamb  and  the  dove  element 
— the  innocence  of  the  soul — would  be  elevated ; 
but  the  serpent  element — the  sensual  nature — 
would  be  used  as  a  servant  and  not  as  a  master. 
So  among  the  other  beasts  of  the  field,  to  give  the 
serpent  its  name  was  to  estimate  sensuous  things 
at  their  true  value,  to  understand  their  office  as 
being  simply  to  enable  man  to  perform  his  duties 
in  this  world,  to  permit  them  to  testify  concern- 
ing earth  as  a  representative  of  heaven,  and  to 
use  them  as  testimonies  to  the  existence  of  the 
Lord,  and  to  his  nature,  love  and  care.  But  that 
sensuous  reasonings  should  close  up  the  spiritual 
plane  of  the  mind,  cut  off  the  power  of  spiritual 
thought,  darken  the  pathway  to  immortality  and 
heaven,  or  deny  their  Creator  and  Lord,  such  a 
thought  could  not  be  even  entertained. 

But  when  man  began  to  incline  to  his  selfhood, 
to  desire  to  be  guided  more  by  himself  and  less 
by  the  Lord,  then  the  power  of  the  serpent  began 
to  assert  itself.  While  men  were  conscious  of 
the  Lord  as  their  guide,  the  serpent  could  have 
nothing  to  say  on  spiritual  subjects.  He  went 
his  way  quietly  on  his  destined  earthly  round  of 
duty.  True,  after  the  inclination  to  the  pro- 
prium,  there  was  love,  and  innocence,  and  peace, 
still  in  a  modified  form,  breathing  through  all  the 
fields  of  Eden.     But   self-love  or  the  pt'^^oprium 


The  Serpent  73 

in  its  best  form,  is  an  unsafe  guide.  If  it  looks 
to  the  Lord  indeed,  it  is  safe  ;  but  if  it  looks  any- 
where else  it  is  lost.  And  it  does  not  look  to  the 
Lord  except  in  the  case  when  man  is  wholly 
above  its  influence. 

We  have  seen  how  man  departed  fi'om  his  first 
estate',  and  inclined  to  the  selfhood.  We  have 
followed  the  allegory  as  it  described  the  fact.  We 
have  found,  also,  that  with  his  greater  self-con- 
sciousness, he  was  still  endowed  with  a  principle 
of  goodness  and  innocence.  The  woman  became 
a  symbol  of  this  affection  for  the  selfhood.  A 
new  title  is  used  for  man,  meaning  not  mankind 
as  Adam  did,  but  man  as  distinguished  from 
woman.  And  this  term  for  man  is  a  symbol  of 
the  intellectual  nature.  So  the  serpent  first  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  woman.  In  other  words,  the 
sensuous  principle  of  the  mind  began  its  work 
upon  the  selfhood.  Sensual  and  sophistical  reason- 
ings about  spiritual  things,  began  to  be  used  in 
place  of  the  celestial  perceptions  which  once  had 
sway ;  and  they  went  direct  to  the  proprium  as 
the  easiest  thing  to  seduce.  Perhaps  there  were 
in  those  days  Tom  Paines,  Yoltaires,  and  Inger- 
solls  to  say  to  the  proprium,  "  Yea,  hath  God  said 
ye  shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden," 
to  insinuate  a  doubt  whether  the  words  of  the 
Lord  were  true  ;  whether  the  love-life  was  the 
best  life  ;  whether  the  Lord  or  self  was  the  real 
7 


74  Hie  Garden  of  Eden. 

guide ;  whether  these  so-called  perceptions  were 
not  delusions  ;  whether  the  best  evidence  was  not 
the  evidence  of  the  senses ;  whether  this  being- 
led  by  self  was  not  a  pleasant  experience  ;  whether 
it  was  reallv  death  to  the  soul ;  whether  these  old 
ideas  of  their  forefathers  were  not  mere  supersti- 
tions having  no  foundation  in  common  sense  ;  and 
a  hundred  other  similar  doubts  which  the  sensual 
principle  is  capable  of  insinuating,  and  then  of 
satisfactorily  answering  to  inflated  self-conscious- 
ness and  pride. 

So  was  it,  doubtless,  that  the  serpent  talked  to 
the  woman ;  and  the  Avoman,  touched  with  the  ar- 
gument, goes  direct  to  the  man.  That  is,  self-love 
being  beguiled,  in  its  turn  beguiles  the  intellect. 
This,  perhaps,  was  not  the  work  of  a  year,  nor  of  a 
hundred  years.  It  was  the  working  of  the  leaven 
of  sensuousnessin  the  human  family  for  thousands 
of  years,  probably,  dragging  it  down  to  the  lower 
levels  of  life. 

And  in  this  we  find  the  true  history  of  the  origin 
of  evil.  Evil  originated,  not  in  the  machinations, 
of  a  serpent  who  beguiled  a  single  woman,  but  in 
self-love  yielding  to  arguments  founded  on  sensu- 
ous appearances.  Man  was  created  upright,  but 
free.  He  inclined  to  self;  he  listened  to  the  delu- 
sive whisperings  of  sense  and  his  sensual  nature  ; 
he  let  go  his  hold  on  God  and  his  love,  and  so 
brought  evil  into  the  world. 


f 


The  Serpent  75 

We  leave  the  subject  here  to  resume  it  again — 
for  the  story  of  the  serpent  is  yet  but  half  told. 

But  of  one  thing  we  may  all  be  conscious.  The 
origin  of  evil  is  still  in  every  soul,  the  whispering 
of  the  serpent  to  the  woman.  Self-consciousness 
is  to  most  people  their  very  life.  Our  love  of 
sensuous  things  drags  us  down  to  the  lowest 
levels.  If  we  deny  God  and  immortality,  it  is 
the  delusion  of  sense.  If  we  hesitate  or  doubt, 
it  is  the  delusion  of  sense.  If  we  cannot  grasp 
spiritual  thoughts,  it  is  because  we  are  deluded 
by  sense.  If  we  cannot  open  our  understandings 
to  the  light  that  comes  only  from  on  high,  it  is 
sense  that  hinders.  And  through  all  our  denials 
and  doubts,  it  is  sense  and  its  delusions  that  rule 
the  soul.  It  comes  to  us  in  many  forms,  deceives 
in  many  ways,  but  it  comes  always  in  hatred  of 
that  which  is  holy.  It  drowns  the  soul  in  dissi- 
pation or  overwhelms  it  in  pleasures ;  it  elates  it 
with  ambition ;  it  makes  it  in  dreams  a  dcmi-god. 
It  puts  self  in  the  center  of  its  little  universe,  and 
causes  all  things  to  revolve  around  it.  It  bends 
all  activities,  all  beings,  all  life,  to  serve  one's 
personal  ends,  whether  of  ambition,  pleasure  or 
greed.  And  what  is  worse  than  all,  it  persuades 
the  soul  that  this  is  the  only  right  and  proper 
thing  to  do,  that  it  has  the  sanction  of  religion, 
and  that  anything  else  is  superstition.  This  ser- 
pent is  the  deluding  principle  of  the  universe.    It 


76 


The  Garden  of  Eden. 


warms  itself  by  every  fireside ;  it  bides  itself  in 
every  social  gatbering ;  it  conceals  itself  in  work- 
shop and  store,  and  holds  high  carnival  on  change ; 
it  does  our  buying  and  selling  ;  its  voice  is  beard 
in  every  passing  conversation ;  it  governs  wherever 
rulers  congregate ;  and  it  is  insidiously  coiled  in 
the  very  aisles  and  pews  of  our  churches.  It 
trails  its  slimy  way  in  highways  and  byways, 
homes  and  hearts,  and  its  poison  pervade^  the 
world.  Ah !  could  we  rise  above  these  delusions 
of  sense,  could  we  but  believe  in  and  follow  the 
Lord  with  half  the  zeal  and  energy  with  which 
we  listen  to  and  serve  the  serpent,  this  were  a 
world  worth  living  in.  We  can — we  must.  It 
is  the  only  true  salvation. 


V. 


THE  FORBIDDEN  FRUIT. 

And  when  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  rvas 

good  for  food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant  to 

the  eyes  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one 

^  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and  did 

^  eat,  and  gave  also  unto  her  husband  with 

her;  and  he  did  eat.—GQn.  iii.  6. 

*S  we  familiarize  our  minds  with  the  idea 
that  this  narrative  of  the  Garden  of  Eden 
is  purely  allegorical,  we  experience  less  and 
less  difficulty  in  grasping  its  real  meaning,  and  in 
satisfactorily  applying  the  laws  of  symbolism  to 
its  interpretation.  The  difterent  events  begin  to 
group  themselves  naturally  around  the  central 
truth,  that  Adam  was  the  whole  Church  of  the 
early  age  of  the  world,  and  not  a  single  individual. 
We  learn  from  the  allegory  that  these  people  lived 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  that  is,  in  innocence  and 
peace,  in  the  very  presence  of  the  Lord  and  under 
his  holy  and  immediate  influence  ;  that  they  re- 
mained in  this  state  for  a  long  period,  eating  of 
the  tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  that  is, 
living  from  the  Lord  as  the  inmost  principle  of 
thought  and  love ;  that  they  began  to  desire  to 
feel  the  spiritual  life  as  more  their  own  and  less 
the  Lord's  in  them ;  that  they  inclined  more  and 
7*  ■  77 


78  The  Gar  den  of  Eden. 


more  to  self-consciousness  or  the  selfhood;  and 
then  the  sensual  principle — the  serpent — began  to 
assume  control  of  the  mind  and  to  become  a  con- 
spicuous figure  in  this  Garden. 

Sensuousness  I  have  defined  as  the  disposition 
to  limit  one's  life  to  the  small  area  of  existence 
which  comes  within  the  purview  of  the  natural 
senses.  The  principle  is  broad  in  its  scope,  but 
it  invests  life  with  the  merely  natural,  and  rejffcts, 
as  a  thing  undesirable  or  unknowable,  the  super- 
natural. If  we  are  Christians,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  this  principle  w^e  are  apt  to  be  very  weak 
or  very  indifferent  ones.  If  we  seem  to  be  earnest 
in  our  faith,  that  faith  is  based  upon  what  w^e 
conceive  to  be  a  correct  historical  record  of  the  || 

coming  of  Christ,  and  of  the  miraculous  evidence  by  ].' 

which   his  character  was  proven.     If,  however,  * 

we  are  hurried  by  its  advice,  or  under  the  impetus 
of  its  insinuations,  away  from  Christianity,  it 
forbids  us  to  recognize  God  because  natural  sense 
has  never  seen  Him;  or  to  believe  in  another 
life,  because  natural  law  has  been  unable  to  prove 
it ;  or  even  to  acknowiedge  the  existence  of  the 
soul,  because  no  dissecting  knife  has  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  its  seat.  It  is  a  harsh  term, 
perhaps,  to  apply  to  so  eminent  a  scientist  as 
Tyndall,  yet  he  is  a  strong  type  of  the  sensuous 
man,  when  he  asserts  in  substance  :  I  do  not  deny 
God,  for  I  know  nothing  about  Him ;  yet  I  do 


The  Forbidden  Fruit.  79 

not  believe  in  God,  for  these  senses  of  mine  have 
never  seen  Him,  felt  Him  or  touched  Him.  I 
believe  only  what  sense  and  natural  science  prove. 
There  may  be  plenty  of  undiscovered  truths,  but 
I  rest  my  faith  only  in  what  I  scientifically  know. 

Yery  moral  men  may,  after  this  manner,  be 
sensualists.  Bat  the  effect  of  such  sensuous  reason- 
ing is  demoralizing  in  the  extreme.  Pride  may 
keep  the  strong  sensual  man  from  moral  degrada- 
tion. But  when  you  efface  from  the  mind  spiritual 
intelligence,  and  substitute  natural  reason ;  or 
when  you  darken  those  spiritual  lights,  which 
are  the  stars  of  its  higher  consciousness  pene- 
trating all  dark  places  with  spiritual  discernment, 
vou  take  awav  that  which  gives  this  world  its 
only  life  and  hope.  Then  the  man  of  weak  mind, 
or  he  who  has  no  stay  of  pride,  sinks  into  dissipa- 
tion and  debauchery ;  this  world  becomes  his  all 
in  all ;  its  money,  fame  or  pleasure,  his  only  hope 
and  joy ;  himself  and  his  own  gratification  the 
only  things  worth  living  for.  The  Lord,  the  di- 
vine Sun,  is  blotted  from  his  firmament;  bevond 
the  grave  there  is  naught  for  him  but  darkness ; 
to  make  the  most  of  this  world  is  his  supreme 
purpose.  So  the  serpent — type  of  the  sensual 
nature — as  monitor  and  guide,  is  the  world's  ruin. 

What  wonder,  then,  that  in  olden  times,  when 
he  once  gained  the  ear  of  those  who  dwelt  in 
Eden,  he  advised  them  to  their  fall.     Subtle  he 


80  The  Gardeii  of  Eden. 

was  and  bold  ;  "  More  subtle  than  any  wild  beast 
of  the  field."  Is  not  the  sensual  nature  the  most 
crafty  of  all  the  affections  of  the  mind  ?  What 
argument  so  specious  as  that  which  insinuates 
questions  like  these :  Who  but  a  fool  would  be- 
lieve in  that  which  is  not  evident  to  the  senses? 
Why  should  you  deny  yourselves  the  delights  of 
self,  of  enjoyments  so  palpable  and  abounding,  of 
pleasures  so  exquisite  and  close  at  hand,  in  the 
vain  pursuit  of  that  phantom  called  eternal  life, 
that  folly  of  superstitious  follies  called  unselfish- 
ness ? 

So  to  the  Eden  people  of  old,  it  was  the  sen- 
suous thought  entering  into  the  mind — the  serpent 
trailing  his  tortuous  way  into  life — which  did  the 
mischief  that  was  done.  The  woman,  as  the  svm- 
bol  of  affection  in  general,  here,  in  view  of  the 
manner  in  which  her  name  is  used  in  the  allegory, 
is  made  to  represent  specifically  the  afi'ection  for 
the  selfhood.  It  was  to  her,  therefore,  to  the  self- 
hood ever  ready  to  listen  to  any  suggestion  which 
increased  its  power  or  pleasure,  that  the  serpent 
applied  itself.  "  Yea,  hath  God  said.  Ye  shall  not 
eat  of  the  tree  of  the  garden  ?  "  Was  it  really  true 
that  God  had  counseled  them  not  to  draw  spiritual 
life  from  any  perception  of  the  mind  which  could 
grow  in  such  a  place  as  Eden  ?  Were  not  its  trees 
all  good  ?  Were  not  all  the  perceptions  which  grew 
in  the  soil  of  innocence,  purity  and  love,  genuine 


The  Forbidden  Fruit  81 

and  true  ?  Why  forbid  themselves  anything  that 
came  from  so  divine  a  source  ?  This  was  sophis- 
tr}^,  the  serpent's  cunning,  in  its  most  unadul- 
terated form.  Without  mentioning  the  tree  of 
knowledge,  this  reasoning  included  it — evidently 
insinuating  that  it  also  must  be  good,  because  it 
was  one  of  the  trees  of  Eden.  Eden  was  all  good, 
how  could  any  of  its  trees  be  bad  ?  The  Eden  state 
was  all  purity,  how  could  any  perception  of  the 
mind  be  false  ?  Follow  this  new  dictate,  was  the 
insinuation  ;  it  is  of  Eden  in  the  heart,  and  it  is 
therefore  right. 

But  the  selfhood  was  not  immediately  satisfied. 
It  had  been  endowed  by  the  Lord  with  spiritual 
life ;  it  had  been  elevated  into  spiritual  atmos- 
pheres ;  and  even  the  self-consciousness,  in  its 
higher  state,  was  not  so  easily  convinced.  So 
the  woman's  answer  to  the  serpent's  delusive  in- 
sinuation was:  ''  We  mav  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the 
trees  of  the  garden ;  but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree 
which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  God  hath 
said,  Ye  shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch 
it,  lest  ye  die."  It  was  evident  that  of  all  the 
trees  of  the  garden  they  might  eat,  with  this 
single  exception.  All  perceptions  of  the  mind 
were  from  the  Lord ;  all  that  belonged  to  the 
Eden  state  and  was  rooted  in  its  soil — perceptions 
of  truth,  of  good,  of  love,  of  God,  and  whatso- 
ever   intelligence    sprang    from    them — all    these 

F 


82  I'he  Garden  of  Eden.  i 

were  from  the  Lord.  But  the  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil  was  the  idea  of  self  as  the 
origin  of  spiritual  life,  and  that  certainly  was  not 
from  the  Lord.  They  still  saw  this ;  it  was  not 
entirely  obliterated  from  their  consciousness.  And 
God  had  said  that  not  only  should  they  not  eat 
of  it,  not  only  ought  they  not  to  conceive  of  the  , 

soul's  life  as  a  thing  of  self,  but  they  must  not  | 

touch  it,  they  must  not  even  dream  of  such  a  | 

thing,  they  must  not  for  a  moment  come  in  con-  % 

tact  with  such  an  experience.  For  the  consequence 
of  so  doing  would  be  that  they  would  die.  All 
relapsing  into  self  is  spiritual  death.  It  is  not 
the  decease  of  the  body,  nor  the  annihilation  of 
the  soul.  It  is  not  ceasing  to  think,  will  and  act. 
It  is  the  death  of  good — the  death  of  genuine  dis- 
interested love  ;  the  lapsing  into  evil  and  falsity  ; 
the  loss  of  all  power  to  know,  appreciate,  live,  or 
even  comprehend  the  spiritual  side  of  life,  and  God 
as   its   giver.      This   is   to  die   in   the   spiritual  =' 

sense. 

But  the  serpent  seemed  to  speak  of  natural  death. 
He  always  speaks  naturally.    And  it  is  of  the  na-  | 

ture  of  the  sensual  principle  to  lead  us  away  from 
the  true  meaning  of  things,  and  make^us  satisfied 
to  rest  in  mere  appearances.  So  the  serpent  said 
to  the  woman,  that  is,  the  sensual  element  replied 
to  the  doubts  of  the  better  selfhood,  ''  Ye  shall  not 
surely  die  ;  for  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye 


The  Forbidden  Fruit  83 

eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye 
shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil." 

Now  it  is  a  fact  that,  to  this  day,  so  inclined 
are  the  large  mass  of  people  to  take  sensuous 
views  of  things,  that  it  is  generally  believed  that 
natural  death  came  into  the  world  because  two 
individuals,  Adam  and  Eve,  ate  of  the  fruit  of  a 
natural  tree.  It  is  not  seen  that  mankind  fell,  not 
because  of  anv  natural  act  of  disobedience,  nor 
because  of  anything  heedlessly  done  on  the  nat- 
ural plane,  but  because  they  became  selfish,  worldly 
and  sensual.  The  first  idea  so  generally  accepted, 
is  devoid  of  all  rationality ;  the  other  commends 
itself  to  reason  and  common  sense. 

''  Ye  shall  not  surely  die,"  said  the  serpent. 
Instead  thereof,  "  Your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and 
ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil."  That 
their  eyes  would  be  opened,  means  that  their  under- 
standings would  be  enlightened.  That  they  would 
be  as  gods  knowing  good  and  evil,  means  that  their 
power  to  distinguish  between  good  and  evil  would 
be  seen  or  thought  of  as  a  faculty  originating  in 
themselves ;  and  that  thus  each  one  would  be,  as 
it  w^ere,  a  god  unto  himself,  deciding  for  himself 
and  from  himself,  and  in  the  light  of  his  own  in- 
telligence, w^hat  was  good  and  what  was  evil. 

Now,  the  effect  of  such  an  idea  as  this,  we  see 
plainly  enough  in  the  world's  present  condition. 
When  human  reason  decides  as  to  what  is  truth 


84  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

and  what  is  falsity,  with  the  serpent  as  chief 
pleader  and  the  selfhood  as  umpire,  spiritual 
truth  has  no  chance  of  acceptance.  And  when 
human  reason  is,  under  the  same  conditions,  the 
arbiter  of  good  and  evil,  good  becomes  whatever 
panders  to  the  pleasure,  profit  and  aggrandize- 
ment of  one's  self,  and  evil  whatever  is  in  opposi- 
tion thereto.  Each  man  is  a  god  unto  himself; 
each  man  decides  for  himself;  each  man  is  self- 
glorified.  This  was  the  tendency  with  our  early 
progenitors.  The  serpent  that  now  holds  high 
carnival  in  the  world,  was  then  exerting  his  most 
seductive  influence. 

We  have  considered  the  tree  of  life  as  the  Lord 
and  his  love,  and  the  tree  of  knowledge,  as  self 
and  science.  Eating  of  the  one  or  the  other  sym- 
bolizes appropriating  the  one  or  the  other  of  these 
principles  to  the  life  of  the  soul.  We  know  that 
natural  eating  is  for  the  sustenance  and  invigora- 
tion  of  the  natural  body.  The  food,  or  the  life- 
giving  elements  of  the  food,  are  conveyed  by  the 
blood  to  the  various  organs  of  the  system,  and 
distributed  according  to  the  needs  of  this  or  that 
portion  of  the  body.  Its  many  parts,  the  brain, 
the  muscle,  the  flesh,  the  bone,  the  nervous  fluid, 
the  cuticle,  each  and  all  partake  of  the  blessings 
and  the  benefits.  And  the  body  lives  and  grows 
and  strengthens  by  means  of  the  food  ivhereof  it 
partakes ;  and  the  condition  of  the  body,  whether 


The  Forbidden  Fruit  85 

healthy  or  diseased,  well  or  ill,  depends  very 
much  on  the  character  of  its  food.  Good  food 
makes  a  sound  body ;  insufiQcieut  or  improper 
food,  an  unsound  one. 

The  correspondence  of  the  natural  with  the 
spiritual  system  and  its  economy  is  exact.  It  is 
a  matter  of  the  greatest  consequence  whether  we 
partake  of  nourishing  spiritual  diet  or  of  that 
which  is  injurious.  The  Word  of  God  every- 
where reco2:nizes  this.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
our  Lord  says  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophet,  "Eat 
ye  what  is  good,  and  let  your  soul  delight  itself 
in  fatness"  (Isa.  Iv.  2);  and  that  He  said,  when 
on  earth,  ''  Labor  not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth, 
but  for  that  meat  which  endureth  unto  everlasting 
life,  which  the  Son  of  man  shall  give  unto  you  " 
(John  vi.  27).  Again,  "  I  am  the  living  bread  which 
came  down  from  heaven  ;  if  any  man  eat  of  this 
bread,  he  shall  live  forever"  ( John  vi.  51).  And 
again,  "  He  that  eatcth  me,  even  he  shall  live  by 
me  "  (John  vi.  57).  Say  we  not  well,  then,  when 
we  assert  that  the  Lord  is  the  veritable  tree  of 
life  which  grows  in  the  midst  of  Eden  ?  Draw 
we  then  our  food  from  Him,  eat  we  of  the  fruit 
of  that  divine  tree,  recognize  we  his  influence 
within  our  souls,  obey  we  all  his  commands  in 
their  true  spirit  and  intent,  love  we  the  higher 
life  proceeding  from  the  Lord  who  is  in  the  midst 
of  our  mental  garden,  then  truly  do  we  live.  The 
8 


86  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  is  all  the  goodness  and 
wisdom  which  we  receive  from  the  Lord — humbly 
acknowledging  that  it  is  his  and  not  our  own — 
and  appropriate  to  the  upbuilding  and  sustenance 
of  the  soul.  Eat  we  of  the  fruit  of  that  tree,  and 
its  life-giving  principles  flow  down  into  every 
least  thing  of  the  spirit.  They  give  light  to  the 
understanding,  purity  to  the  desire,  sweetness  to 
the  affections,  wisdom  to  the  thought ;  they  go 
down  into  the  labors  and  works  of  the  hands,  and 
spiritualize  every  least  act  of  life.  They  nourish, 
invigorate,  sustain  and  build  up  the  spiritual  man 
into  a  glorious  image  and  likeness  of  God.  Life 
becomes  love  in  its  highest  sense,  and  the  joy  of 
existence  a  thing  unutterable  ! 

But  the  tree  of  knowledge  is  self  and  science. 
Its  fruit  is  error  and  falsity,  evil  and  crime.  We 
throw  aside  revelation ;  we  deny  its  truth ;  we 
divorce  our  understanding  from  its  fountain  of 
wisdom ;  and  we  say.  Let  us  rely  on  science  or 
the  senses.  We  read  no  more  the  commandments 
of  God;  we  relegate  those  precepts  to  the  realm 
of  the  impracticable ;  we  grow  indifferent  to  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  as  it  fain  would  speak  to  us  in 
the  garden  .of  the  mind  ;  and  we  say,  Let  us  con- 
sider self-preservation,  and  the  wealth,  honors 
and  pleasures  of  the  world,  as  the  things  most 
near  at  hand  and  of  most  immediate  need.  Then 
we  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  forbidden  tree.     The 


The  Forbidden  Fruit  87 

Lord  did  not  desire  man's  spiritual  death.  He 
would  not  have  him  rest  in  mere  worldly  joys 
when  there  is  a  higher  life ;  nor  live  merely  for 
self  when  the  well-being  of  his  kind  demands  his 
services  ;  nor  study  only  his  interest  in  this  world, 
when  there  is  an  eternal  world  for  which  he  was 
placed  here  to  prepare.  He  would  not  have  him 
shrivel  his  faculties,  when  they  were  made  for 
wide  expansion  ;  nor  invert  the  law  of  life  when 
he  is  capable  of  enjoying  its  unspeakable  blessings ; 
nor  become  a  creature  of  disorder  and  selfishness, 
when  he  was  created  in  the  grandest  order  and 
for  the  highest  use.  He  would  not  have  him 
confine  his  aims  and  ends  to  the  bodv  and  this 
world,  nor  his  reasoning  faculties  to  natural  sci- 
ence, when  by  doing  so  he  loses  the  higher  wisdom 
and  fails  to  attain  the  higher  and  purer  life.  He 
would  not  have  him  wallow  in  the  filthy  mire  of 
sensuous  delights,  when  there  are  sweet  fields  of 
heavenly  joy  wherein  to  live  and  take  pleasure. 
He  would  not  have  him  a  mere  animal,  when  He 
had  created  him  to  be  an  angel.  For  as  the  fruit 
of  the  tree  of  life  was  coodness  and  wisdom,  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  was  evil  and  error, 
crime  and  insanity.  Therefore  was  it  that  the 
Lord  commanded  man  not  to  eat  of  this,  the  for- 
bidden fruit.  God  is  not  possessed  of  the  human 
passion  of  pride.  He  did  not  utter  an  arbitrary 
edict  for  the  sake  of  enjoying  man's  servile  obedi- 


88  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

ence.  He  did  not  make  life  and  happiness  to  de- 
pend on  refraining  from  a  certain  natural  fruit. 
It  is  only  sensuous  thought  that  so  drags  the  Lord 
down  to  the  level  of  human  frailty.  He  com- 
manded man  not  to  live  from  self,  not  to  draw  his 
mental  food  from  sensuous  science,  not  to  place 
his  life  in  mere  knowledge  ;  because,  if  he  did,  his 
spiritual  nature  would  die.  What  He  commanded 
was  solely  for  man's  own  happiness  and  good. 

But  man  ate.  He  no  longer  looked  to  the  Lord 
for  the  food  of  his  soul,  but  Xq  self.  He  lost  sight 
of  those  words  of  divine  beautv,  "  He  that  eateth 
me,  even  he  shall  live  by  me  ;  "  and  he  made  a  god 
of  himself  instead,  and  recognized  no  other  source 
of  life.  This  food  he  ate,  or  appropriated  as  the 
life  of  his  soul.  With  this  he  nourished  all  his 
faculties.  It  went  through  his  whole  system  ;  it 
permeated  his  whole  character ;  it  poisoned  his 
affections ;  it  darkened  his  understanding  ;  it  nour- 
ished hatreds,  cruelties  and  revenges  ;  it  rendered 
him  incapable  of  spiritual  perception  ;  it  capaci- 
tated him  for  crime  ;  and  it  flung  the  world,  as  its 
final  outcome,  into  that  seething  cauldron  of  misery, 
war  and  unrest,  w^hieh  is  so  largely  our  lot  to-day. 
And  so  will  the  world  remain  until  we  cease  to  eat 
of  the  forbidden  fruit,  the  source  of  all  our  woe, 
and  return  to  Eden  and  the  Lord. 

There  is  an  expression  introduced  into  the  third 
chapter  of  Genesis,  which  seems  contradictory  of 


%] 


The  Forbidden  Fruit.  89 

the  second.  The  tree  of  knowledge  is  here  said 
to  be  in  the  midst  of  the  garden ;  whereas  previ- 
ously it  was  asserted  that  the  tree  of  life  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden.  It  is  one  of  those  points 
of  which  there  are  many,  which  infidel  writers, 
reasoning  from  the  serpent's  point  of  view,  hold 
up  to  prove  the  inconsistency  and  foolishness  of 
Scripture.  They  reason  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  letter.  If  you  tell  them  it  is  a  spiritual  alle- 
gory, they  will  laugh  at  you  ;  and  if  you  attempt 
to  show  them  that  i^is,  they  will  understand  you 
no  more  than  if  you  spoke  in  an  unknown  tongue. 
Their  spiritual  understanding  is  closed  to  the  higher 
light.  But  in  the  spiritual  sense  of  these  and  all 
similar  passages,  the  apparent  inconsistency  van- 
ishes. The  explanation  is  simply  this :  In  the 
primitive  condition  of  the  people  of  the  first 
Church,  just  as  they  were  placed  in  the  Eden 
state,  the  tree  of  life,  or  the  Lord  and  his  love, 
was  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  ;  love  occupied  the 
central  place  in  the  soul ;  for  it  was  in  the  very 
inmost  of  the  heart,  and  the  central  source  of  the 
mind's  intelligence.  Bat  after  they  began  to  listen 
to  the  serpent,  the  tree  of  life  occupied  no  more 
the  center,  but  the  tree  of  knowledge  took  its  place 
in  the  inmost  of  the  soul,  and  self  assumed  the 
position  which  the  Lord  had  previously  held. 

But  in  explaining  these  symbols,  in  order  to 
bring  out  their  meaning  in   bold  relief,  we  find 
8* 


90  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

ourselves  sometimes  painting  the  principles  repre- 
sented in  their  extremest  colors.     Eating  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge,  like  all  other  spiritual  habits, 
is  a  thing  that  comes  gradually,  and  becomes  a 
habit  only  by  a  slow  process.     The  world  at  that 
early  age  did  not  change  in  a  day,  nor  in  a  year, 
perhaps  not  in  a  hundred  years.     The  serpent's 
voice,  feeble  at  first,  grew  strong  as  time  rolled  on. 
Listened  to  at  the  beginning  but  feebly,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  race  became  more  fixed  and  their  incli- 
nation to  obey  more  strong  as  listening  became  a 
habit.     Constant  dallying  with  the  subject  on  the 
part  of   man,  gradually  made  the  serpent  more 
bold.     The  woman — the  affection  for  the  selfhood 
— was  first  approached.     It  was  only  by  slow  de- 
grees she  began  to  see  that  this  fruit  of  the  tree 
of  knowledge  was  ''good  for  food,"  or  began  to 
consider  sense  and  science  as  things  in  themselves 
good.     Yielding  to  this,  they  became  also  ''  pleas- 
ant to  the  eyes,"  in  other  words,  agreeable  to  the 
understanding.     And  finally  they  were  seen  by 
the  selfhood  to  be  things  ''  to  be  desired  to  make 
one  wise  ;  "  that  is,  that  they  were  really  desirable, 
because  they  gratified  the  pride  of  self-intelligence, 
and  made  the  man  eminently  wise  in  his  own 
eyes. 

And   thus — so  runs  the  narrative — when  the 
w^oman  saw  these  things  ''  she  took  of  the  fruit 


The  Forbidden  Fruit  91 

thereof  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also  unto  her  hus- 
band with  hei',  and  he  did  eat." 

Man  as  distinguished  from  woman,  as  was  ob- 
served in  a  former  discourse,  symbolizes  the  intel- 
lect. Thus  it  was  the  woman  who  ate  first — the 
love  of  self  or  the  proprium.  And  then  she  in 
tarn  persuaded  the  man  to  eat.  When  the  love  of 
self  appropriated  as  its  food  the  delusions  of  sense, 
the  intellect  soon  yielded  its  concurrence.  It  is 
the  experience  of  all  time.  When  we  are  on  the 
downward  path,  what  we  love  we  are  very  apt  to 
persuade  ourselves  is  right.  Into  the  arms  of 
whatever  evil  the  heart  throws  itself,  intellect  and 
reason  are  called  upon  for  their  assent,  and  they 
soon  yield.  The  fall  of  each  and  every  man  and 
woman  begins  and  ends  in  a  similar  way. 

But  as  before  observed,  we  have  described  the 
symbols  in  their  more  extreme  meanings.  The 
fall  was  gradual,  extending  perhaps  through 
hundreds  or  even  thousands  of  vears.  The  fruit 
of  the  tree  of  knowledge  changed  its  quality 
as  time  went  on.  The  first  aberration  from  the 
primal  condition,  was  in  life.  From  generation 
to  generation  the  Adamic  Church  inclined  to  self 
and  evil  more  and  more.  Still  the  true  life  would 
be  acknowledged ;  but  it  would  become,  as  one 
generation  succeeded  another,  more  and  more  a 
matter  of  mere  faith,  and  less  and  less  a  matter 
of  experience.     Then  gradually,  with  many,  faith 


92  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

itself  would  begin  to  yield,  while  perhaps  with 
others  it  would  be  longer  retained.  Thus  at  first 
the  fruit  of  the  forbidden  tree  w^as  faith  as  the 
basis  of  religion.  This  also  would  be  forbidden, 
because  love  is  its  true  basis.  Then  its  fruit 
became  error ;  and  at  last  positive  falsity.  The 
eating  by  the  woman  was  a  work  of  centuries ; 
the  offering  to  the  man  and  his  eating  a  work  of 
centuries  more.  The  letter  makes  it,  in  the  fall 
of  a  man,  the  work  of  a  day  ;  the  spirit  makes  it, 
in  the  fall  of  a  race,  the  work  of  a  period  of  in- 
definite and  unknown  length. 

And  so  let  us  still  follow  the  lesson  in  our 
hearts,  and  contemplate  all  its  admonitions  as 
given  to  make  us  wiser  in  our  generation.  There 
is  only  one  tree  whose  fruit  is  life,  for  us  as  well 
as  for  our  early  progenitors.  It  is  the  Lord  him- 
self enthroned  within  the  heart.  It  is  that  prin- 
ciple of  love,  so  large,  so  all-embracing,  so  divine, 
that  the  mind  of  its  possessor  is  an  Eden  of 
intelligence  and  delight.  Its  branches  are  far 
reaching ;  its  roots  strike  deep  ;  its  fruits  are  all 
goodness  and  wisdom,  and  they  nourish  the  soul 
from  its  centers  of  affection  and  thought  to  its 
extremities  of  active  life  and  work.  Other  trees 
there  are  in  the  garden  which  contribute  to  life ; 
other  perceptions  of  the  soul  which  are  suggested 
from  within  and  without ;  but  this  tree  is  Life 
Itself.     Let  us  ask  nothing  of  sense  and  science, 


1 


The  Forbidden  Fruit. 


93 


except  that  they  be  willing  servants  of  the  Lord 
and  love.  Let  us  eat  of  no  fruit  that  will  exalt 
sense  and  drag  down  the  soul,  that  v/ill  magnify 
self  and  degrade  the  Lord.  Spiritual  life  and 
spiritual  death  are  before  us,  according  to  the 
kind  of  fruit  our  souls  eat  or  appropriate.  Let  us 
eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  and  truly  live ! 


VI. 

THE  CURSE. 

And  unto  Adam  he  said.  Because  thou 
hast  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife, 
and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree  of  which  "^I com- 
manded thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  eat 
of  it,  cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake. — 
Gen.  iii.  17. 

iHE  curses  expressed  in  the  Bible  are  pecu- 
liar. They  bear  no  similarity  to  those 
evoked  by  human  passion.  When  man, 
under  the  influence  of  a  feeling  that  is  born  of 
sin,  bursts  forth  into  profane  ravings  against  the 
neighbor,  invoking  maledictions  on  his  head,  he 
speaks  under  the  prompting  influence  of  hell.  It 
is  anger,  or  resentment,  or  revenge,  wounded  pride 
or  defeated  purpose,  that  would  deal  damnation 
and  ruin  to  the  offending  party.  Kesentment  in 
any  form  is  as  far  from  the  Lord's  nature  as  it  is 
possible  for  anything  to  be. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  men  will  persistently 
attribute  to  God  that  which  all  condemn  in  a 
professed  servant  of  God  ?  Is  it  not  amazing 
that  they  will  clothe  the  Divine  Being  with  hu- 
man passions,  when  the  whole  end  and  aim  of 
Christianity  is  to  lead  man  to  curb  and  subdue  the 
same  passions  ?  Who  would  justify  resentments, 
maledictions  or  curses  in  a  Christian  ?     And  how 

94 


The  Curse,  95 

shall  we  ascribe  those  attributes  to  Him,  the  recep- 
tion of  whose  spirit  alone  it  is  that  makes  one  a 
Christian  ? 

How  then  are  we  to  understand  the  Scripture 
which  seems  to  attribute  cursings  to  God  ?  The 
answer  is  simple.  In  the  literal  sense,  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible  is  that  of  appearance ;  in  the 
spiritual  sense  it  is  that  of  reality.  And  that 
meaning  is  generally  attributed  to  it  by  man, 
which  accords  with  his  own  instincts.  This  last 
assertion  is  true  of  our  every-day  conversation. 
If  a  man  is  brutal,  there  is  an  element  of  brutality 
entering  into  his  conception  of  every  word  that  is 
addressed  to  him.  If  he  is  sensual,  there  is  to  him 
an  element  of  sensuality  which  enters  into  every 
expression  that  he  hears.  If  he  is  essentiall}^  im- 
modest, his  mind  instinctively  turns  the  purest 
words  into  expressions  of  beastly  sentiment.  But 
if  he  is  spiritual,  to  him  all  things  are  clothed  with 
spirituality ;  if  pure,  all  things  with  purity. 

To  all  expressions,  therefore,  there  is  a  higher 
import  and  a  lower.  The  lower  the  thought,  the 
lower  the  sense  it  will  attach  to  words  ;  the  higher 
the  thought,  the  more  elevated  the  idea,  and  the 
more  exalted  its  conception  of  the  meaning  which 
expressions  are  designed  to  convey.  And  this 
has  caused  the  world's  trouble  in  construing  holy 
Writ.  A  pagan  age  has  invested  its  terms  with 
pagan  meanings ;  a  sensuous  age  with  sensuous 


96  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

ideas ;  the  natural  mind  with  gross  natural  con- 
ceptions. 

Now  in  this  matter  of  cursings,  as  human  utter- 
ances they  are  evil  in  themselves,  and  spring  from 
evil  in  the  heart  of  him  who  utters  them.  And 
men  of  evil  passions  instinctively  ascribe  to  the 
Lord,  when  they  read  expressions  of  this  kind, 
the  same  fire  of  passion  which  they  feel  within 
themselves.  But  the  Lord  is  a  Being  of  infinite 
love,  charitv  and  mercv.  A  curse,  therefore,  when 
attributed  in  the  Scripture  to  Him,  must  be  an  ex- 
pression of  that  love,  charity  and  mercy ;  for  we 
cannot  think  of  Him  as  capable  of  expressing  any- 
thing else.    When  the  poet  says, 

*'  Tlie  angry  sun  on  waste  Sahara's  plain 
Shone  down,  blasting  all  nature  with  its  presence," 

we  do  not,  in  our  poetic  ardor,  literally  attribute 
to  the  sun  a  peculiar  anger  with  the  desert  of 
Sahara  above  all  other  lands,  under  the  influence 
of  which  it  withers  all  attempts  at  herbage,  and 
dries  up  ruthlessly  each  bubbling  fount  or  stream. 
We  know  that  it  is  but  a  poetical  method  of  ex- 
pressing a  fact  resulting  from  the  atmospheric  and 
climatic  conditions  of  that  arid  region.  We  know 
that  it  is  the  same  sun  which  shines  so  beneficently 
on  our  own  prolific  land.  He  sends  forth  the  same 
heat,  and  the  same  amount  and  kind,  to  America 
that  he  does  to  Sahara.     But  our  position,  and  our 


The  Curse.  97 

atmospheric  and  climatic  conditions  are  such,  that 
we  receive  his  beams  in  luxuriant  forms  of  verdure, 
while  Sahara  receives  them  in  sterile  sands. 

So  with  human  minds.  This  sun  of  everlasting 
light,  the  Word  of  God,  sends  forth  his  beams  of 
truth  and  love  with  equal  force,  to  the  grossest 
sensualist  and  the  most  exalted  Christian.  How 
they  receive  these  beams,  whether  as  a  sterile 
desert  or  as  a  fertile  garden,  depends  upon  them- 
selves. Yet  the  light  and  heat  as  thev  come  from 
their  divine  source,  are  the  same  for  all.  But  as 
the  same  sun  blasts  in  some  climes  and  beautifies 
in  others,  accordina*  to  the  characteristics  or  con- 
dition  of  the  rea-ion  which  receives  it,  so  the  same 
law  of  love  that  gives  existence  and  life  to  all,  if 
it  is  received  in  order  and  in  answering  love, 
renders  beautiful  the  soul  of  its  recipient ;  but  if 
received  in  disorder  and  hate,  its  very  power  of 
giving  life  is  turned  into  a  means  of  death. 

It  is  on  this  principle  that  the  divine  gift  of 
life  received  in  innocence  and  joy,  lived  in  its  own 
spirit  and  reflected  back  to  its  Creator  in  perfect 
images,  is,  in  the  language  of  holy  writ,  "  the 
blessing  of  the  Lord ;"  but  the  same  divine  gift 
received  in  a  selfish  nature,  lived  in  perverted 
form,  and  reflected  back  in  hideous  distortions,  is, 
in  the  language  of  holy  writ,  ''the  curse  of  the 
Lord."  How  perfectly  a  mirror  without  any  flaw 
or  irregularit}^  in  its  surface,  reflects  the  human 
9  "  G 


98  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

countenance !  But  you  have  seen,  perhaps,  those 
mirrors  which  turn  the  human  figure  upside 
down,  or  distort  every  feature  of  the  face.  The 
original  is  perfect  enough ;  it  is  the  reflection: 
w^hich  is  right  or  wrong.  The  divine  original  in 
the  soul  of  man,  is  pure  and  upright.  It  is 
the  use  we  make  of  our  God-given  faculties — 
the  manner  in  which  the  soul  receives  and  reflects 
the  influent  life,  which  renders  it  beautiful  or 
monstrous  in  its  proportion  and  form. 

Life  given  of  the  Lord,  is  a  blessing  to  him  who 
uses  it  aright,  and  a  curse  to  him  who  perverts  it. 
This  is  the  blessing  and  the  curse.  It  seems  as 
if  the  latter  were  of  God,  and  the  natural  mind  so 
views  it.  It  really  is  of  man ;  and  the  spiritual 
mind  reads  of  God's  curse,  as  the  poet  reads  of 
the  angry  sun.  Each  one  reads  according  to  his 
nature.  But  he  who  follows  the  Word  of  God  in 
its  spirit,  thinks  of  the  curse  of  the  Lord  as  the 
angels  think  of  it — as  the  divine  mercy  resting 
with  man  amid  the  verv  ruins  of  his  nature,  and 
rendering  him  as  happy  as  possible  in  the  dreary 
region  of  life  he  has  sought  and  found.  In  other 
words,  God's  curse  is  the  divine  law  of  life — a  ruin 
and  a  wreck  through  man's  perversity,  but  Divinity 
still  working  amid  those  ruins  to  save  him  from 
a  worse  desolation  even  on  his  chosen  plane. 
Riches  are  a  blessing  to  him  who  uses  them  aright, 
a  curse  to  him  who  makes  of  them  the  mere  instru- 


The  Curse.  99 

ments  of  self-gratification.  Health  is  a  blessing 
to  him  who  nobly  works  in  its  strength  for  life's 
elevation,  a  curse  to  him  who  uses  it  for  the  larger 
gratification  of  his  love  of  sensual  pleasure.  Edu- 
cation is  a  blessing  to  him  who  develops  by  its 
means  an  enlarged  capacity  for  usefulness,  a  curse 
to  him  who  employs  it  to  render  himself  a  greater 
adept  in  crime.  The  great  gift  of  life  is  a  blessing 
to  him  who  lives  in  true  order  according  to  the 
Divine  intent,  but  a  curse  to  him  who  inverts  its 
heavenly  purpose  and  makes  it  a  means  of  mis- 
chief to  the  world.  When,  therefore,  we  read  in 
the  Word  of  God,  of  the  Lord's  blessings,  Vi^e  are 
to  understand  his  gifts  of  good  freely  received 
and  Tighteously  applied  or  divinely  lived;  but 
when  we  read  of  his  curses,  we  are  to  understand 
his  good  gifts  misapplied  and  wickedly  perverted 
to  evil  purposes  and  selfish  ends.  It  is  this  ^iyXe 
of  Scripture  from  which  poetry  has  borrowed 
its  character,  and  of  which  it  is  a  fair  exponent 
oftener  than  matter-of-fact  prose. 

Having  thus  enlarged  upon  the  nature  of  the 
curse,  let  us  take  a  rapid  review  of  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  that  portion  of  the  parable  at  which 
we  have  now  arrived.  The  primitive  church 
called  Adam,  having  departed  from  its  pristine 
innocence,  having  inclined  to  the  selfhood  or  j^'^o- 
prium,  having  been  seduced  by  the  serpent  to 
eat  of  the   tree   of  sense   and   science,    trended 


100  The  Garden  of  Eden, 

rapidly  downward.  Then  it  is  said  that  ''  the 
eyes  of  them  both  were  opened,  and  they  knew 
that  they  were  naked."  When  it  had  been  said, 
before  the  temptation,  that  "  they  were  both  naked 
and  not  ashamed,"  it  was,  in  the  spiritual  sense, 
a  description  of  their  innocence.  In  that  innocent 
state  there  was  nothing  whereof  they  needed  to 
be  ashamed.  Now,  however,  their  eyes  were 
opened  ;  but  to  what  ?  Why,  to  the  things  of 
self  and  sense,  in  a  manner  in  which  their  fore- 
fathers by  no  means  understood  them.  Their 
eyes  were  opened  to  see  that  they  regarded  self 
and  the  world  as  the  chief  thini>'s  in  life,  and 
spiritual  things  as  matters  of  secondar}^  impor- 
tance; while  their  progenitors,  in  the  wise  inno- 
cence of  their  hearts,  had  regarded  spiritual  attain- 
ments as  the  grand  purpose  of  life,  and  self  and 
the  world  as  merely  instrumental  means  toward 
this  great  end.  So  they  saw"  their  nakedness  ; 
that  is,  they  became  aware  that  they  w^ere  un- 
clothed with  spiritual  principles,  and,  therefore, 
they  sought  to  invest  themselves  with  merely 
natural  good.  For,  as  the  vine  is  the  oft-repeated 
symbol  of  spiritual  good,  so  the  fig-tree  is  that  of 
natural  good.  And  this  clothing  the  life  with 
merely  external  or  moral  virtues,  is  corresponden- 
tially  described  in  the  statement  that ''  they  sewed 
fig  leaves  together  and  made  themselves  aprons." 
Then  ''  they  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord  going 


Tlic  Curse.  101 

forth  in  the  garden."  The  voice  of  the  Lord  is 
any  inward  dictate  which  emanates  from  Him. 
"  Going"  forth "  is  the  correct  translation,  not 
'*  walkino:  "  as  the  authorized  version  h«\s  it.  It 
was  not  the  Lord  walking  it  a^nii^MiH  gard^n^ 
and  speaking  face  to  face  with  a  raan  and  wcraan. 
It  was  an  inward  dictate  of  conscience,  the^  voice 
of  the  Lord,  which  those  people  experienced, 
going-  forth  in  the  garden  of  the  intelligence  of 
which  they  were  yet  possessed,  calling  them  to 
account  for  the  wretched  mistake  they  had  made. 
So  thev  "  hid  themselves  from  the  face  of  the 
Lord  ;  "  that  is,  they  shut  out  the  divine  dictate 
and  the  divine  countenance  from  their  minds  ;  and 
they  hid  themselves  among  the  trees  of  the  garden, 
that  is,  they  averted  themselves  from  the  Lord  or 
his  dictates  by  withdrawing  into  the  perceptions  of 
their  own  self-intelligence. 

It  is  the  usual  story,  first  enacted  in  the  ancient 
garden.  When  man  wants  to  do  wrong,  when 
he  wants  to  be  selfish,  when  he  wants  to  gorge 
himself  with  worldly  pleasure,  the  inward  voice 
of  the  Lord  forbids ;  yet  he  turns  from  it,  shuts 
out  the  voice  that  would  counsel  and  correct — the 
voice  of  divine  wisdom  and  virtue — and  justifies 
himself  by  the  delusive  sophistry  of  his  self-in- 
telligence. So  did  the  people  of  the  most  ancient 
times.  And  when  they  seriously  sought  to  shut 
out  the  suggestions  which  the  Lord  would  fain 
9* 


102  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

make  to  mind  and  heart  they  brought  the  curse 
upon  themselves.  And  then  as  an  excuse  for  this, 
the  reply  was  made  by  the  proprium — the  woman 
— to  the  conscience  or  the  Lord's  voice,  "  The 
'  ;S(prpent  beguikd"  :ne  and  I  did  eat ;  "  meaning-, 
"  Th^  aensnal  principle  of  my  nature  has  been 
th^  st rerig-f o'-r-me/anvi  i  have  yielded  to  it  because 
I  could  not  resist  its  influence."  The  excuse, 
however,  is  but  a  lame  one,  and  helps  nothing. 
An  effort  to  rise  from  the  position  into  which  they 
had  fallen,  had  been  far  better  than  a  mere  excuse 
for  their  degradation.  It  was  simply,  however, 
what  the  man  now  does  every  day,  who,  while 
acknowledging  the  abstract  holiness  of  the  Lord's 
instructions,  persists  in  saying,  "  It  is  not  possible 
for  any  one  to  keep  the  divine  commandments." 
So  the  curse  followed — the  fault  of  man  entirely, 
and  not  of  the  Lord.  It  was  the  consequence  of 
departing  from  the  true  order  of  life,  and  not  an 
arbitrary  decree  of  God.  It  was  the  inherent 
demoralization  caused  by  yielding  to  the  pro- 
jyrium,  and  not  an  edict  of  divine  wrath. 

''And  th3  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent, 
Because  thou  hast  done  this,  thou  art  cursed 
above  all  cattle  and  above  every  beast  of  the 
field."  Let  us  constantly  bear  in  mind  that  this 
whole  narrative  is  an  allegory.  Nothing  of  it 
transpired  as  a  literal  conversation  of  the  Lord 
with  man,  woman,   or  serpent.     When  it  reads 


The   Curse.  103 

that  "the  Lord  God  said,"  it  is  meant  that  thus 
and  so  the  Lord  viewed  the  matter  ;  or,  that  thus 
and  so  is  it  in  the  light  of  divine  truth.  Each 
expression  is  the  statement  of  a  truth  couched  in 
correspondcntial  language.  Thus,  in  the  Lord's 
view,  or  in  the  light  of  divine  truth,  the  sensual 
principle  or  the  serpent  had  become  cursed ;  and 
this  above  all  the  other  affections  of  the  mind, 
symbolized  by  the  expression,  "  Above  all  cattle 
and  above  every  beast  of  the  field."  It  had  so 
come  to  be  cursed,  in  becoming  the  lowest,  the 
most  depraved,  the  most  groveling,  of  all  portions 
of  human  nature,  j^'othinor  is  lower  than  sen- 
suality.  Therefore  it  is  said,  "  Upon  thy  belly 
shalt  thou  go  " — a  significant  statement  of  the 
gross,  earthly,  corporeal  and  bestial  character  of 
the  sensual  principle  under  the  conditions  to  which 
it  had  brought  itself.  It  had  been  a  good  thing 
and  spiritually  erect  when  in  its  proper  place,  as 
a  servant  doin^r  the  biddino*  of  the  hio:her  nature 
— an  agent  of  the  latter  in  its  earthly  work.  But 
when  it  assumed  to  be  master  and  seduced  the 
mind  and  heart,  erect  no  more  it  groveled  on  the 
lowest  earthly  plane.  It  ate  or  lived  upon  the 
mere  dust  and  ashes  of  life,  fed  upon  corporeal 
and  terrestrial  ideas  and  enjoyments. 

And  another  result  of  the  curse,  or  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  sensual  nature,  was  expressed  in  the 
words,  ''  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the 


104  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed." 
The  woman,  as  we  have  before  shown,  represents 
the  afFectional  nature.  In  this  connection,  as 
there  is  enmity  between  her  and  the  serpent,  and 
as  she  was  the  predestined  symbol  of  the  Church 
in  its  aifectional  or  emotional  aspect,  it  was  a 
simple  statement  of  the  truth,  that  henceforth 
there  would  be  Avar  between  the  genuine  affec- 
tion for  spiritual  things  in  the  Church,  and 
sensualism  in  all  its  forms.  The  seed  of  the 
serpent,  or  the  final  fruit  of  sensuality,  was  in- 
fidelity. The  seed  of  the  woman,  or  the  wonder- 
ful issue  which  was  to  be  born  of  the  future 
Church,  was  Christ  and  Christianity.  The  enmity 
between  the  seed  of  the  serpent  and  the  seed  of 
the  woman,  was  a  prophecy  of  the  war  to  be 
inaugurated  by  infidelity — whether  Jewish,  pagan, 
or  modern — in  respect  to  Christ  and  his  religion. 
Thus  the  seed  of  the  serpent  has  bruised  his  heel, 
that  is,  the  heel  of  Christ,  both  in  the  crucifixion 
of  his  body,  and  in  his  crucifixion  in  every  heart 
which  has  burned  with  hatred  towards  Him  and 
the  religion  He  taught.  And  the  seed  of  the 
woman  has  bruised  the  serpent's  head  in  every 
victory,  and  on  the  arena  of  every  heart  where 
true  Christianity  has  gained  a  triumph  over  the 
crafty  seductions  of  infidelity.  "  Unto  the  woman 
he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  sorrow  and  thy 
conception ;    in   sorrow    thou    shalt   bring   forth 


The  Curse,  105 

children  ;  and  thy  obedience  (the  true  rendering) 
shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over 
thee."  The  woman  is  here,  as  in  the  former 
verse,  the  woman  of  prophecy ;  she  is  the  true 
Church  in  its  affectional  aspect;  she  is  the  affec- 
tion for  truth  and  goodness  in  the  minds  of  the 
members  of  the  Church.  No  allusion  is  here 
made  to  natural  conceptions  or  births.  That  is 
the  letter ;  and  the  letter  is  only  the  basis,  sym- 
bol, or  correspondent  of  the  spirit.  The  allusion 
is  to  those  things  which  are  born  of  spiritual 
affection,  to  all  good  feelings,  desires  and  prompt- 
ings, to  all  new  conceptions  of  truth,  of  salvation, 
of  heaven,  of  the  Lord.  Again  the  prophecy  is 
not  of  w^hat  the  Lord  does,  although  it  is  said, 
''  I  will  multiply,"  etc.  It  is  a  statement  of  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  human  degradation  and 
of  the  unavoidable  condition  which  the  human 
race  takes  on,  in  permitting  itself  to  be  degraded. 
Those  consequences  to  the  serpent  or  sensuous 
nature,  we  have  seen.  The  consequences  to  the 
woman  or  the  affectional  nature,  are  here  described. 
These  have  no  relation  to  the  conceptions  and 
births  of  natural  children.  They  are  the  new 
conceptions  of  spiritual  truth,  and  the  new  births 
of  good  desires,  feelings  and  promptings.  It  is 
of  these  children  of  the  soul  that  it  is  said,  ''I 
will  greatly  multiply  thy  sorrow  and  thy  concep- 
tion ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring  forth  children." 


i^r 


106  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

In  the  Eden  state  all  the  faculties  developed  into 
good,  naturally,  without  struggle,  pain  or  sorrow. 
Now  we  emerge  from  natural  states  into  spiritual, 
through  much  conflict,  through  dark  temptations, 
through  severe  inward  combats,  through  painful 
losses  of  things  we  had  set  our  hearts  upon,  through 
many  sighs  and  tears.  Then  truth  came  to  the 
mind  in  lightning  flashes,  quick,  clear  and  unmis- 
takable ;  to  hear  spiritual  truth,  was  to  grasp  it 
and  believe  it.  Now  we  have  to  wrestle  with  it, 
reason  about  it,  sometimes  almost  to  agonize  over 
it,  in  order  to  its  reception.  These  children  of  the 
spiritual  affections,  are  conceived  in  sorrow  and 
brought  forth  through  much  affliction.  It  is  part 
of  the  curse.  It  is  the  result  of  a  fallen  state.  It 
is  easy  to  descend ;  but  to  reascend  the  mountain 
of  the  Lord,  is  a  weary  work  indeed.  It  is  added, 
''  Thy  obedience  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he 
shall  rule  over  thee." 

The  man  or  husband  is  the  s3'mbol  of  the  intel- 
lect, as  woman  is  of  the  will  or  affection.  In  true 
order  the  intellect  is  subordinate  to  the  will.  It  is 
love  for  the  Lord  which  renders  the  truths  of  the 
Lord  clear.  It  is  the  love  of  the  neighbor  which 
teaches  all  life's  proper  duties.  But  another  result 
of  the  curse  is,  that  the  will  yields  obedience  to 
the  intellect.  And  now  in  spiritual  things  we  must 
retrace  our  steps.  Now  the  intellect  must  acknowl- 
edge the  Lord,  before  the  heart  will  love  Him  ;  the 


The  airse.  107 

reason  must  admit  an  act  to  be  a  duty,  before  we 
are  willing-  to  do  it.  It  is  the  only  way  back  to 
Eden. 

*'And  unto  Adam  he  said."  This  is  the  author- 
ized version,  but  a  mistranslation.  It  should  read, 
''  Unto  the  man  (^Ish — the  man  male)  he  said,  Be- 
cause thou  hast  hearkened  unto  thv  wife: "  because 
thou,  the  once  God-like  intellect,  hast  listened  to 
the  suggestions  of  the  j)ropriu7n,  "  and  hast  eaten 
of  the  tree  of  which  I  commanded  thee  saying, 
Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it,"  that  is,  hast  drawn  the 
nourishment  of  thy  soul  from  self  and  sense  and 
science — ''cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake" — 
miserable  and  wretched  and  degraded  is  thy  mind ; 
**  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy 
life  ;  "  that  is,  with  trouble  and  affliction,  vexation 
and  disappointment,  sin  and  sorrow  shalt  thou  pur- 
sue thy  way,  as  the  legitimate  result  of  thy  selfish 
life,  so  long  as  that  state  endures ;  "  thorns  and 
thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee  ;  "  that  is,  evils 
and  falsities  shall  be  the  fruits  of  thy  mental  con- 
dition ;  ''  and  thou  shalt  eat  of  the  herb  of  the 
field," — the  smallest  and  least  consequential  of 
s])iritual  conception  shall  be  thy  mental  food ; 
''in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread, 
till  thou  return  to  the  ground ;  "  that  is,  with  dis- 
gust and  loathing  shalt  thou  receive  the  true  bread 
of  life  offered  thee  by  the  Lord,  until  finally  thou 
shalt  fall  back  completely  into  thine  earthly  nature ; 


.ir_ 


108  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

"  for  out  of  it  thou  wast  taken," — out  of  the  earthly- 
nature  the  Lord  lifted  thee  when  He  placed  thee 
in  Eden  ;  ''  for  dust  thou  art," — in  and  of  thyself 
mere  spiritual  dross ;  "  and  to  dust  thou  shalt  re- 
turn,"— by  thine  own  act  hast  thou  abased  thyself, 
and  art,  therefore,  self-condemned. 

And  so  the  woman,  the  man  and  the  serpent — 
the  affection,  the  intellect  and  the  sensual  nature — 
all  passed  under  the  curse.  Yet  it  was,  on  the  part 
of  the  human  race,  an  act  of  self-degradation.  The 
Lord  seems  to  say,  "  I  did  it ;  "  but  it  was  not  the 
Lord's  will,  but  his  broken  law  that  did  it.  And 
so  mankind  went  down,  down,  until  our  God-in- 
Christ  came  to  earth  to  raise  him  up  again. 

Now  the  lesson  here  taught  comes  home  to  all 
of  us.  The  curse  is  evil  and  sin,  and  it  rests  upon 
the  hearts  of  all  who  cherish  evil.  It  is  self  and 
sense,  and  it  abides  in  every  nature  over  which 
these  twin  deceivers  hold  sway.  The  woman  and 
the  man  and  the  serpent  are  all  in  us.  They  are 
of  every  mind.  Each  one  has  his  emotional,  his 
intellectual  and  his  sensual  nature.  In  the  Eden 
state,  these  are  under  the  Divine  influence ;  in  a 
fallen  or  perverted  state,  they  are  under  the  curse. 
All  human  degradation  is  self-imposed ;  each  curse 
that  falls  is  self-originated.  But  the  Lord  comes 
down  (if  we  will  permit  Him)  into  the  midst  of 
every  sorrow,  care  or  pain,  and  breathes  his  mercy 
there.    The  good  Samaritan  of  the  soul,  He  pours 


The  Cicrse.  109 

his  oil  of  love  into  every  wound.  He  turns,  or 
constantly  endeavors  to  turn,  each  sorrow  into  a 
balm  for  our  healing,  each  pain  into  a  cure  for  our 
hurts.  And  if  we  accept  his  mercy  and  his  love, 
we  rise  and  walk  erect  once  more. 

Shall  we  not  take  comfort,  then,  amid  the  sad- 
dest of  life's  pictures  ?  Shall  we  not  receive  solace 
even  when  contemplating  the  ruins  of  fallen  man  ? 
We  have  looked  down  ;  let  us  now  look  up  and  re- 
joice in  the  thought,  that  even  so  low  as  the  human 
race  has  fallen,  so  high  may  it  also  rise. 
10 


VII. 

THE  EXPULSION. 

And  the  Lord  God  said.  Behold,  the  man  is 
become  as  one  of  us.  toknoiv  good  and  evil: 
and  now  lest  he  put  forth  his  iKmd,  and  take 
also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for- 
ever:  therefore  tlie  Lord  God  sent  him  forth 
from,  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  till  the  ground 
from  u'hence  he  rvas  taken.  So  he  drove 
out  the  ma7i.— Gen.  iii.  22, 23. 

^HE  expulsion  from"  Eden,  viewed  in  its 
mere  surface  sense,  appears  to  have  been 
a  very  arbitrary  proceeding  on  the  part  of 
the  Lord.  Its  cause  seems  to  have  been  wholly 
inadequate,  its  consequences  not  legitimately 
growing  out  of  the  act,  and  the  punishment  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  crime. 

Let  us  take  a  supposed  case.  A  father  places 
his  child  in  a  garden  where  there  are  two  kinds 
of  fruit,  each  of  them  tempting  to  the  eye  and 
giving  outward  evidence  of  being  luscious  to  the 
taste.  The  child  is  informed — without  a  why  or 
a  wherefore,  but  on  the  impulse  of  a  mere  whim 
and  as  a  test  of  his  implicit  obedience — that  he  may 
eat  of  the  one  kind  of  fruit  and  not  of  the  other. 
The  declared  conditions  or  consequences  are :  if 
he  obeys  he  shall  live,  if  not  he  shall  die.  It  is  a 
severe  test,  and  the  punishment  altogether  dispro- 

110 


The  Expulsion.  Ill 

portionate  to  the  offence  to  which  it  is  annexed. 
The  child,  weak  and  ig-norant,  overcome  by  curi- 
osity and  overpersuaded  by  foolish  advisers,  is  led 
to  believe  that  his  father  did  not  really  mean  what 
he  said,  and  eats  of  the  tree  of  which  he  is  forbid- 
den to  eat.  Then  the  parent,  entirely  forgetful 
of  the  penalty  he  had  imposed  for  disobedience, 
does  not  cause  the  child  to  die,  but  banishes  him 
from  his  presence  forever,  to  get  his  education 
and  his  living  as  best  he  may.  He  is  to  receive 
no  more  love,  no  more  sympathy,  no  sign  or 
shadow  of  mercy,  from  him  who  too  severely 
tested  him,  and  who  was  bound  by  every  human 
consideration  to  lead  him  with  a  loving-  hand  into 
wiser  ways,  instead  of  casting  him  off  in  his  weak- 
ness, ignorance  and  error. 

What  would  we  think  of  such  a  father  ?  Would 
we  not  consider  him  unjust,  inhuman,  heartless  ? 
Even  the  law  which  is  supposed  to  be  devoid  of 
sympathy  and  untempered  by  mercy,  would  com- 
pel the  parent  to  step  in  and  take  his  child  in 
charore  ao-ain.  But  the  Lord  is  better  than  man, 
infinitely  more  kind,  tender  and  loving.  Would 
it  be  possible  for  Him  to  act  toward  his  child  in 
the  way  the  letter  of  Genesis  appears  to  teach  ? 
How  could  He  who,  in  the  tender  language  of  the 
Psalmist,  is  described  as  "a  God  full  of  compas- 
sion and  gracious,  long-suffering  and  plenteous  in 
mercy   and   truth,"  who   is   represented   in   the 


T^ 


112  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

Gospel  as  being  "  kind  even  unto  the  unthankful 
and  the  evil  " — how  could  He  be  unjust,  arbitrary, 
or  cruel,  devoid  of  love  or  forgetful  of  mercy 
toward  even  the  most  rebellious  of  his  children  ? 

When,  therefore,  v/e  so  read  or  interpret  this 
narrative,  accepting  the  apparent  for  the  real 
truth,  we  make  a  terrible  mistake.  We  must  not 
conclude  with  the  infidel  that  God's  Word  is  false. 
Rather  let  us  conclude  that  we  have  been  mistaken 
in  our  interpretation  ;  that  our  education  or  under- 
standing has  been  at  fault ;  and  let  us  seek  for  an 
interpretation  that  will  justify  the  character  of 
God,  and  in  so  doing  elevate  our  own  minds.  In 
reading  the  written  Word  we  shall  always  come 
nearer  the  truth  by  rejecting  the  natural  and 
seeking  the  spiritual  meaning.  For  to  all  utter- 
ances of  divine  inspiration,  our  Lord's  words  apply, 
*'  It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth  ;  the  flesh  profit- 
eth  nothing  ;  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you, 
they  are  spirit  and  they  are  life."  And  the  apostlo 
spoke  in  harmony  with  the  Master's  words,  when 
he  said  with  reference  to  Scripture,  "  The  letter 
killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life." 

We  have  come  now  to  a  point  where  we  can 
clearly  see  this.  In  previous  discourses  we  have 
treated  this  Eden  history  as  an  allegory  of  spir- 
itual truth.  We  have  looked  beyond  the  letter ;  we 
have  not  impaired  the  beauty  or  force  of  the  nar- 
rative by  literal  interpretations,  but  have  tried  to 


The  Expulsion.  113 

reproduce  its  inward  spirit  and  fill  it  with  vigor- 
ous life.     We  have  not  looked  upon  it  as  literal 
history,  but  have  endeavored  to  quicken  it  with 
that  spirit  with  which  the  Lord   gave  it  forth. 
Contrast  the  spiritual  truth  thus  taught  in  this 
history  viewed  as  a  parable,  with  the  most  un- 
natural ideas  which  have  been  drawm  from  it  as  a 
literal  historic  narrative.    An  all-wise  Father  has 
created  an  earth  upon  which  He  places  the  family 
of  man.     He  has  made  these  children  of  his,  on  a 
finite  scale,  an  image  and  likeness  of  what  He  is 
infinitely.  That  is.  He  has  made  them  beings  of  love, 
innocence  and  goodness,  and  capable  of  indefinite 
degrees  of  spiritual  wisdom.     It  is  his  desire  that 
they  should  pass  from  this  world,  prepared  for 
angelic  habitations,  and  live  in  the  highest  happi- 
ness forever.    He,  therefore,  may  be  considered  as 
speaking  to  mankind  after  this  manner :  You  are 
human  because  you  are  free  ;  and  you  are  free 
moral  agents  because  you  are  human.     I  cannot 
take  away  your  freedom  without  reducing  you  to 
the  grade  of  the  beasts  which  perish.     Now,  I 
place  before  you  heavenly  food  of  every  variety, 
the  wisdom  of  a  good  life  and  the  goodness  of 
eternal  wisdom ;    and   partaking  of  the  fruit  of 
these,  you  will  have  eternal  life.   I  am  the  source 
of  all  good.     Draw  your  nourishment,  your  food 
for   heart    and   mind,  from    me    the   great  Tree 
of  Life,  and  existence  shall  be  to  you  exceeding 
10*  H 


114  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

blissful.  Do  this,  and  life  is  an  Eden,  a  garden 
of  joy  to  you;  and  Eden  is  the  bliss  of  heavenly 
life.  But  I  place  before  you  also  the  fact,  that 
the  life  of  self  and  sense  is  misery,  degrada- 
tion and  spiritual  death.  This  is  the  forbidden 
tree.  It  is  forbidden,  not  because  I  would  de- 
prive you  of  any  true  good  or  pleasure,  but  be- 
cause this  is  evil  and  insanity  and  there  is  no 
good  in  it.  I  commend  the  heavenly  fruit  to  you, 
because  it  nourishes  the  eternal  life  of  your  souls 
and  places  you  in  heaven  forever.  I  forbid  the 
fruit  of  self  and  sense,  because  it  hinders  your 
spiritual  growth,  makes  you  heirs  of  spiritual 
death,  and  unfits  you  for  heaven. 

The  contrast  between  this  view  of  the  narra- 
tive which  is  its  spirit,  and  the  other  which  is  its 
letter,  is  marked.  The  Father  is  no  longer  arbi- 
trary or  inhuman.  He  is  tenderness  exemplified. 
All  is  consonant  with  what  our  deepest  readings 
of  the  Bible  show  his  character  to  be.  It  is  not 
the  Lord  who  is  tvrannical,  but  man  who  is  will- 
ful ;  not  the  Lord  in  anger  shutting  man  out  from 
happiness,  but  man  shutting  himself  out  by  his 
own  willfulness.  And  all  this,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  told,  and  in  no  ambiguous  manner,  in  the  sym- 
bolic language  of  this  ancient  parable. 

But  it  is  said :  "  Therefore  the  Lord  God  sent 
him  forth  from  the  garden  ;  "  and,  it  is  added : 
"  So  he  drove  out  the  man."     This  is  the  peculiar 


The  Expulsion.  115 

style  of  all  divine  writings.  It  is  so  given  with 
a  purpose.  Some  of  the  common  expressions  of 
our  day  are  similarly  fashioned  and  for  the  same 
purpose.  The  old  sayings  "  The  sun  rises,"  and 
"The  sun  goes  down,"  are  familiar  illustrations. 
These  phrases  have  come  down  to  us  from  a  people 
whose  system  of  astronomy  was  all  false,  and 
who  believed  that  the  sun  literally  moved  around 
the  earth  in  twenty-four  hours ;  that  at  the  end 
of  each  day  it  sunk  below  the  horizon  :  and  that 
at  the  end  of  each  night  it  rose  again  on  the 
eastern  side.  That  is  the  appearance,  but  it  is 
not  the  reality.  We  all  now  know  that  the  earth 
revolves  upon  its  own  axis  in  the  twenty-four 
hours,  and  turns  us  in  its  movement  toward  and 
away  from  the  sun.  Yet  this  language  of  ap- 
pearance, in  this  and  many  other  instances  that 
might  be  mentioned,  remains  unchallenged.  Chil- 
dren and  ignorant  people  are  permitted  to  use  it 
with  a  mistaken  idea  attaching  to  it,  because  they 
could  not  understand  the  truth  if  explained  to 
them.  But  the  educated  are  in  no  wise  deceived 
or  misled  thereby,  using  themselves  the  same  ex- 
pressions, with  a  full  conception  of  the  true  doc- 
trine which  lies  within  or  behind  this  language 
of  appearance  ;  and  the  same  children  who,  as 
children,  accepted  the  apparent  for  the  genuine 
truth,  slowly  and  unconsciously,  through  educa- 
tion, come  at  last  to  connect  only  the  real  truth 


116  The  Gayxlen  of  Eden. 

with  the  same  language.  The  language  of  ap- 
pearance, so  large  an  element  in  the  formulated 
expressions  of  conversation,  is  adapted  to  children 
and  adults,  to  the  ignorant  and  wise.  It  is  the 
highest  conception,  fallacious  as  it  may  be,  of 
infantile  innocence  and  ignorance ;  yet  it  is,  to 
manhood  and  education,  only  the  apparent  form 
which  clothes  realities. 

The  Lord,  in  his  dealings  with  men,  follows 
what  is  sometimes  termed  the  methods  of  nature. 
And  what  are  the  methods  of  nature  but  the 
Lord's  own  methods  ?  The  Bible  was  given  to 
the  Jews  who  were  merely  natural  men  incapable 
of  spiritual  ideas.  It  is  read  to-day  by  millions 
of  merely  natural  men.  It  is  and  has  been  and 
will  forever  be  read  by  countless  generations  of 
children.  It  is  intended  that  the  natural  minded, 
the  superstitious,  the  spiritually  uneducated  and 
children,  shall  abide  in  the  appearance  until  they 
can  accept  the  reality.  It  is  better  for  them  to 
believe  that  the  Lord  chastises,  that  He  is  angry 
with  us  when  we  do  wrong,  that  He  sends  us  to 
hell,  that  He  deprives  us  of  heaven,  that  He 
drives  the  disobedient  out  of  Eden,  than  that  they 
should  not  recognize  Him  at  all.  The  appearance 
of  truth  in  regard  to  God,  is  better  than  a  denial 
of  Him.  An  acknowledgment  of  Him  in  an  er- 
roneous way,  is  better  than  no  acknowledgment. 
We  ascend  to  the  temple  of  wisdom  by  steps ;  and 


The  Expulsion.  117 

the  lowest  step,  be  it  never  so  rugged  or  soiled 
by  earthly  dust,  is  a  foothold  by  means  of  which 
we  mount  to  the  higher. 

Our  Lord  recognizes  this.  Therefore  the  Bible 
is  a  series  of  parables  replete  with  spiritual 
wisdom.  Its  seeming  is  for  natural  men  and 
children.  Its  real  spirit  is  for  spiritual  men  and 
women,  and  those  desiring  to  be  spiritual.  The 
child  may  say,  '^  God  punishes  me  if  I  am 
wicked ; ''  the  natural  man  may  think  that  the 
Lord  drives  men  out  of  Eden  for  their  disobe- 
dience ;  but  the  higher  thought  sees  in  the  phrase, 
"  The  Lord  drove  out  the  man,"  simply  an  ex- 
pression of  the  consequences  which  inhere  in  his 
own  act.  Eden  was  innocence,  love  and  true 
happiness.  When  man  ceased  to  love,  he  was 
out  of  Eden ;  when  he  was  no  longer  innocent, 
he  was  no  longer  in  Eden  ;  when  he  did  not  enjoy 
the  love  of  the  Lord,  nor  the  purity  of  purpose, 
nor  the  peculiar  happiness  which  constituted  Eden, 
and  of  which  the  term  itself  was  a  svnonvm,  then 
he  left  Eden.  That  is  to  say,  as  Eden  is  a  state 
and  not  a  place,  his  departure  from  that  state,  by 
the  very  act  of  departure,  put  him  outside  of  the 
garden. 

The  natural  sense  reveals  the  Lord  to  natural 
men  as  the  punisher  of  disobedience.  The  spirit- 
ual sense  manifests,  to  those  who  think  spiritually, 
the  great  law  of  the  fall,  as  being  in  man's  own 


118  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

departure  from  the  true  and  good.  Therefore  the 
Lord  drove  out  the  man  in  the  same  sense  that 
the  sun  sends  darkness  on  the  world.  For  as  the 
earth  rolls  itself  away  from  the  sunlight  and 
plunges  us  into  darkness,  so  the  mind  turns  itself 
away  from  the  Lord  and  his  influence,  and  in  so 
doing  goes  forth  from  Eden.  Thus  was  it,  and 
thus  only,  that  Adam  or  the  world's  first  Church, 
and  Eve  or  the  selfhood  to  which  that  Church  had 
become  wedded,  were  driven  from  the  garden. 
They  went  to  no  other  natural  place,  they  re- 
mained, as  to  natural  locality,  just  where  they 
were.  But  they  fell  or  went  into  a  lower  state,  a 
more  and  more  sensual  and  selfish  state,  a  state 
to  which  nothing  celestial  adhered,  and  which 
could  not  in  any  proper  sense  be  called  Eden  ;  and 
in  that  state  they  remained. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  another  law  of  Providence 
which  is  set  forth  under  the  correspondences  in 
the  parable.  It  seems  strange  to  natural  thought, 
that  the  reason  given  for  man's  being  sent  forth 
from  the  Garden  of  Eden  was,  '*  lest  he  put  forth 
his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat, 
and  live  forever."  Was  it  not  the  very  purpose 
of  the  Lord  that  he  should  eat  of  this  sacred  tree  ? 
Why  then  send  him  from  the  garden  lest  he  should 
eat  of  it  ?  The  answer  is  found  in  the  symbols 
already  so  often  explained. 

Eden  is  a  state  of  love ;  a  garden,  a  state  of 


The  Exindsion.  119 

spiritual  intelligence.  The  expression,  Garden  of 
Eden,  is,  however,  used  with  a  modified  meaning- 
according  to  the  position  in  the  parable  in  which 
it  occurs.  The  primitive  state  of  man  was  such, 
that  his  Garden  of  Eden  was  a  spiritual  intelli- 
gence evolved  from  his  intense  love  of  God.  But 
when  he  fell  from  this  high  state,  and  became  in 
love  with  self  and  the  things  of  sense,  he  still  re- 
tained much  of  his  knowledcre,  vea,  acknowledir- 
ment  of  spiritual  things.  So  his  Garden  of  Eden 
would  now  be  an  intelligence  concerning  spiritual 
things  based  upon  what  had  been  handed  down 
from  his  forefathers,  a  tradition  concerning  the 
love  state,  but  not  an  experience  of  it.  For  we 
must  remember  that  we  are  tracing  the  spiritual 
fall  of  a  race  through  its  centuries  of  decadence. 
The  present  generation  had  much  more  of  an 
intellectual  assent  than  of  an  experimental  knowl- 
edsi'e  of  the  wisdom  of  Eden.     ' 

But  as  we  learn  from  various  other  portions  of 
the  Word,  to  acknowledge  truth,  and  not  to  be  in 
the  effort  to  live  in  the  light  of  the  truth  acknowl- 
edged, is  profanation.  It  is  more  soul-destroying 
than  any  other  state.  To  give  a  formal  assent  to 
spiritual  truth  without  an  inward  acknowledg- 
ment, to  have  a  parrot-like  memory  of  phrases 
without  an  adequate  conception  of  their  meaning, 
and  in  neither  case  to  live  by  them,  is  compara- 
tively pardonable :  no  one  can  live  up  to  what  he 


mmmm 


120  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

does  not  intelligently  comprehend.  But  to  receive 
God's  law  intelligently,  and  deliberately  break  it 
— to  accept  in  the  understanding  the  law  of  love, 
and  make  no  effort  to  bring  it  forth  into  life — 
demoralizes  the  soul  and  is  spiritually  ruinous. 
Better  ignorance,  better  utter  darkness,  better 
anything  that  sins  in  blindness  and  perverts  the 
Lord's  law  with  no  knowledge  of  its  existence, 
than  an  intelligent  conception  of  its  behests  and  a 
willful  violation  of  them.  By  a  willful  violation, 
I  do  not  mean  the  slips  which  the  carnal  man  is 
always  liable  to  make,  but  the  deliberate  sinning 
from  the  pure  love  of  sin,  and  without  an  effort 
to  overcome,  while  the  man  interiorly  acknowl- 
edges the  true  nature  of  the  higher  life. 

Therefore  it  was  according  to  the  Lord's  provi- 
dence that  man  should  entirely  lose  his  intelligence 
concerning  spiritual  things,  rather  than  acknowl- 
edge and  profane  them ;  that  he  should  not  only 
go  forth  from  Eden,  or  the  love  state,  since  so  he 
would,  but  that  he  should  also  be  driven  out  from 
the  garden — the  spiritually  intelligent  state.  The 
hand  is  a  symbol  of  power,  as  it  is  man's  chief 
agent  in  performing  the  behests  of  his  will.  To 
put  forth  the  hand,  here  means  to  exert  the  intel- 
lectual powers  of  the  mind.  To  take  of  the  tree 
of  life,  is  to  acknowledg-e  the  doctrine  of  love,  and 
the  Lord  as  its  source.  To  eat  is  mentally  to  di- 
gest and  confirm  it.     And  to  live  forever,  is  to 


The  Expulsion.  121 

live  hereafter  and  to  all  eternity  the  life  of  the 
propicillin,  which  is  that  of  spiritual  death.  For 
while  to  live  refers  to  heavenly  life  when  that  is 
the  subject  treated  of,  it  means  infernal  life,  when 
the  soul  is  driven  forth  from  Eden. 

Thus  when  the  Lord  said,  "  Behold  the  man  is 
become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil ;  "  that 
is,  when  He,  in  his  infinite  knowledge,  perceived 
that  mankind  had  eaten  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  and 
yet  had  retained  their  acknowledgment  of  the  laws 
of  heavenly  life  approved  of  the  Lord  and  held  by 
his  angels  (it  is  plural,  ''one  of  us"),  then  came 
into  play  one  of  the  eternal  provisions  of  Provi- 
dence. That  provision  is,  that  when  the  human 
mind  falls  into  spiritual  degradation,  it  shall  lose 
its  power  of  seeing  or  understanding  spiritual 
truth.  To  profane  is  to  sink  into  the  lowest 
depths  of  evil ;  to  sin  without  profanation  of  the 
truth,  is  comparatively  pardonable.  This  is  in 
consonance  with  that  teaching  of  our  Lord,  which 
savs  :  "  That  servant  which  knew  his  Lord's  will, 
and  prepared  not  himself,  neither  did  according  to 
his  will,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes.  But 
he  that  knew  not,  and  did  commit  things  worthy 
of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes." 
For  the  merciful  Lord,  rather  than  have  willful 
disobedience,  has  so  ordered  the  laws  of  mind, 
that  the  supreme  love  of  self  shall  be  attend- 
ed by  loss  of  the  capacity  to  recognize  the  love 
11 


122  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

of  God;  and  that  a  purely  sensuous  life  shall 
incapacitate  one  to  perceive  the  light  of  heaven. 
We  see  the  operations  of  this  law  all  the  world 
over.  And  now  that  man  has  gone  forth  from 
Eden,  none  are  permitted  to  see  the  light  except 
those  who  will  endeavor  to  live  by  the  light.  In 
our  present  low  condition  we  may  fail  to  live  in 
all  respects  as  the  truth  requires.  But  this  is  not 
the  unpardonable  sin.  If  we  want  to  get  into  the 
sunlight  of  the  Lord,  and  to  rise  above  our  evils, 
knowledge  is  given  us  adapted  to  our  states  ;  and 
the  wanting  and  seeking  is  a  sign  that  at  some 
time  we  shall  gain  what  we  desire. 

So,  as  the  Eden  of  love  faded  from  the  hearts  of 
men,  the  light  of  spiritual  intelligence  flickered 
in  its  departing  struggle,  and  at  last  went  out. 
Then  the  garden  state  was  gone.  And  forth  from 
the  garden  of  Eden— forth  from  love  and  even 
spiritual  knowledge — our  early  progenitors  went. 
They  went  forth  to  ''  till  the  ground  ''—to  culti- 
vate the  lowest  part  of  their  nature ;  ''  to  till  the 
ground  from  whence  they  were  taken,"  to  culti- 
vate the  sensuous  plane  on  which  the  race  was 
originally  born,  but  from  which  untainted  as  yet 
by  hereditary  evil,  the  Lord  had  raised  them  into 
Eden. 

But  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  ever  operating  for 
the  salvation  of  man.  There  is  no  state  of  the 
heart  into  which  it  may  not  enter  if  man  will  per- 


The  Expulsion.  123 

mit  it.  To  him  who  looks  to  the  Lord,  the  lig-ht 
again  comes.  The  more  he  looks  to  the  Lord,  the 
larger  will  become  his  intelligence.  But  the  full 
comprehension  of  divine  truths,  the  living  percep- 
tion which  renders  them  certain  and  gives  us  an 
unquestioning  possession  of  them,  lies  in  the  love 
and  life  of  them. 

It  is  well  for  us  to  think  of  this  portion  of 
Scripture  as  something  more,  even  in  its  symbols, 
than  a  historical  description  of  the  first  dwellers 
on  earth.  We  lose  the  best  part  of  it,  unless  we 
take  it  all  home.  We  have  hearts  and  under- 
standings as  well  as  they  of  old.  We  have 
our  Eden,  our  tree  of  life,  our  forbidden  fruit,  as 
well  as  they.  We,  too,  incline  to  self  and  are 
tempted  to  our  fall.  Our  Eden,  however,  is  our 
infancy.  Then  the  best  of  the  Lord's  angels  are 
around  and  near  us,  and  we  are  guileless,  pure  and 
innocent.  It  is  a  different  condition  from  that  of 
the  most  ancient  Church  ;  still  it  is  our  Eden.  As 
we  grow  older  we  incline  to  self.  The  hereditary 
proclivity  is  strong,  and  we  lean  to  our  corrupt 
inheritance.  We  incline  to  be  wedded  more  and 
more  to  the  j)roprium  or  selfhood,  and  take  to 
ourselves  some  Eve  of  selfish  affection  in  a  thou- 
sand different  ways.  The  serpent  comes  to  us, 
and  we  listen  to  his  subtle  aro-uments,  and  vield 
our  reason  to  his  seductive  allurements.  The 
history  of  all   hearts  is  substantially  the  same. 


124  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

Manhood  or  womanhood  finds  us  infatuated  with 
the  serpent.  We  are  driven  out  of  Eden.  Yet 
there  is  this  to  console  us,  that  so  long  as  we  live 
on  earth  we  are  privileged  to  return. 

It  is  for  the  purpose  of  reading  our  own  heart- 
histories,  that  these  parables  are  valuable.  For 
that,  they  are  of  inestimable  worth  ;  but  they  are 
valueless  to  us  in  the  degree  they  fail  of  that.  For 
in  these  chapters,  whatever  they  may  tell  of  the 
olden  times,  our  hearts  are  also  laid  bare  for  our 
own  inspection.  When  we  read  them  for  spiritual 
instruction,  angels  quicken  us  to  love  them.  They 
infuse  the  desire  to  shun  the  wrong  and  do  the 
right.  Thus  we  come  into  communion  with  an- 
gelic minds ;  we  breathe  in  some  degree  the  atmos- 
phere of  heaven ;  we  fall  in  some  measure  under 
the  influence  thus  infused ;  we  grow  better  and 
wiser ;  we  gain  more  light  and  life ;  and  this 
divine  Word  shall  do  more  for  us,  as  we  better 
comprehend  its  spirit  and  meaning,  than  men  in 
the  past  have,  in  their  most  hopeful  states,  dreamed 
of.  If  we  love  this  Word,  let  us  not  imagine  that 
we  may  safely  be  indifferent  to  its  higher  purpose. 
If  we  reverence  it,  let  us  not  be  content  with  its 
lower  or  sensuous  meaning.  If  we  have  caught 
one  glimpse  of  its  heavenly  spirit,  let  us  take  it  to 
our  hearts  and  fill  our  souls  with  its  delights,  and 
in  its  every  utterance  try — as  we  are  trying  in  this 
history  of  the  planting  and  loss  of  Eden — to  read 


The  Ezpulsion. 


125 


therein  of  our  own  changes  and  chances,  and  to 
gain  therein  the  help  of  the  Lord  and  his  angels, 
to  arise  like  the  prodigal  and  return  to  the  soul's 
true  home — the  garden  of  the  Lord. 


11 


VIII. 


THE  FLAMING  SWORD. 

And  he  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden 
of  Eden  cherubim,  and  a  flaming  sivord 
which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way 
of  the  tree  of  life.— Gen.  iii.  24. 

^HERE  is  no  grander  subject  of  contempla- 


tion than  that  of  the  providence  of  God. 

People  are  not  indisposed,  on  great  and 
extraordinary  occasions,  especially  when  they  have 
been  mysteriously  saved  from  sudden  disaster,  to 
admit  the  existence  of  a  supreme  Power  turning 
away  evil  from  their  path.  But  that  is  a  very 
limited  view  of  an  illimitable  subject.  The  gran- 
deur of  the  Lord's  providence  lies  in  its  univer- 
sality. When  we  think  of  it  as  special  in  the 
sense  of  being  uncommon,  we  limit  its  operations. 
Under  such  circumstances  there  is  always  mingled 
with  our  acknowledgment  of  the  Lord's  goodness, 
too  much  of  the  feeling  that  we  have  been  singled 
out  to  receive  a  peculiar  token  of  his  favor.  Awe 
and  egoism  are  mingled  in  proportions  too  nearly 
equal,  to  render  the  sentiment  one  of  the  highest 
type  of  spirituality.  It  is  not  always  easy  to  sep- 
arate the  feeling  of  pride  in  being  specially  favored 
of  God,  from  that  resulting  from  a  humble  recog- 
nition of  his  protecting  hand.     That  we  believe 

126 


The  Flaming  Sword,  127 

ourselves  to  be  humble  does  not  alter  the  case. 
The  mind  under  the  control  of  human  weakness, 
may  deem  itself  humble  when  the  Lord  knows  it 
is  proud ;  and  this,  because  of  the  fact  which  too 
few  recognize,  that  the  heart  may  be  proud  of  its 
own  humility.  Herein  lies  the  danger  of  a  belief 
in  special  providences  of  which  we  imagine  that 
we  have  been  the  favored  recipients  more  than 
others. 

But  when  we  contemplate  the  Lord's  providence 
as  universal  in  its  character,  this  danger  ceases. 
The  first  view  is  narrow ;  this  is  as  broad  as  the 
universe  itself.  The  first  brings  within  its  pur- 
view the  self-conscious  principle  ;  this  loses  sight 
of  one's  self,  except  as  a  mere  drop  in  the  ocean 
of  humanity.  Under  its  influence  the  mind  says : 
The  infinite  Father  loves  the  whole  universe  of 
men  as  well  as  He  does  me.  The  care  that  I 
receive,  every  one  receives.  The  eye  that  was 
watching  my  way  in  saving  me  from  disaster, 
is  no  less  watchful  over  the  goings  of  each  indi- 
vidual among  the  countless  myriads  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  mercy  which  hovers  over  me,  is 
immanent  in  all  the  wide  domain  of  human  life, 
everywhere  operative,  everyAvhere  alike  tender 
and  lovino". 

In  this  thought  there  is  genuine  humility.  I 
thus  become  only  one  of  a  vast  brotherhood.  Xo 
matter  what  happens  to  me,  I  am  neither  a  pecu- 


128  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

linrly  favored  nor  neglected  one.  Therefore, 
whether  we  live  on  this  side  of  the  great  ocean  or 
the  other,  whether  on  the  earth  or  on  one  of  the 
other  planets,  whether  in  this  solar  system  or  in 
any  other  of  the  myriads  which  dot  the  starry 
heavens,  we  are  all  momentarily  watched  over, 
guided  and  guarded  by  the  omnipresent  All- 
Father. 

True,  we  cannot  comprehend  infinity ;  that  is, 
we  cannot  fully  comprehend  how  the  knowledge 
of  the  Lord  can  embrace  things  so  minute,  or  his 
presence  extend  so  far.  This  is  one  of  the  sub- 
jects which  is  beyond  our  mental  grasp.  The 
child  fails  to  comprehend  many  things  which,  as 
a  man,  he  sees  quickly  and  clearly.  We  are  un- 
able while  in  the  flesh,  to  see  the  why  of  many 
things  which,  in  the  other  world,  will  be  simple 
and  plain  to  us.  One  of  the  great  delights  of  men 
who  become  angels,  will  be  the  constant  broaden- 
ing of  their  mental  horizon,  and  the  ever-enlarging 
power  of  their  mental  grasp. 

We  shall  get  nearer  to  this  question  of  how  the 
Lord  can  supervise  the  most  minute  affairs,  only 
as  our  spiritual  understanding  develops  and  our 
experiences  multiply.  If  we  never  come  into  it 
fully,  it  will  be  because  we  are  not  gods,  and  none 
but  the  Divine  can  fully  comprehend  the  infinite 
operations  of  the  Supreme  Mind.  Yet  we  can 
feel  its  influence  ;  we  can  know  its  truth ;  we  can 


Th.  FlcDiiimj  Sword.  129 

recognize  the  laws  of  Providence ;  and  we  can 
grow  beneath  their  invigorating  presence.  The 
sun  shines  upon  us  and  warms  and  enlightens  us 
none  the  less,  although  we  may  not  be  able  to 
analyze  his  substance,  and  have  no  knowledge  of 
how  his  beams  are  conveyed  to  us  through  such 
immense  space.  So  the  Lord  loves  us  all,  sees  us 
all,  and  is  present  in  ever}^  least  act  of  our  lives, 
although  we  cannot,  with  our  finite  minds,  fully 
grasp  the  idea  of  the  possibility  of  the  infinite 
operations  of  his  providence. 

Little  as  is  the  universality  of  the  Lord's 
presence  and  providence  recognized  among  men, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  positively  announced  teach- 
ings of  Scripture.  The  Psalmist  declares  it  in 
the  words,  "  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit  ? 
or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence  ?  If  I 
ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there  ;  if  I  make 
my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  thou  art  there.  If  I  take 
the  wings  of  the  morning  and  dwell  in  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  sea,  even  there  shall  thy  hand 
lead  me  and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me  "  (Ps. 
vii.  7,  8,  9).  Jeremiah  proclaims  it  in  the  divine 
interrogation,  "  Can  any  hide  himself  in  secret 
places  that  I  shall  not  see  him  ?  saith  the  Lord. 
Do  not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth  ?  saith  the  Lord  " 
(xxiii.  24).  And  our  Lord,  when  on  earth,  re- 
iterated the  same  truth  in  the  declaration  :  ''  Are 
not  five  sparrows  sold  for  two  farthings,  and  not 

I 


130  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

one  of  them  is  forgotten  before  God  ?  But  even 
the  very  hairs  of  our  head  are  all  numbered. 
Fear  not,  therefore,  ye  are  of  more  value  than 
man}^  sparrows "  (Luke  xii.  G,  *7).  The  five 
sparrows  worth  only  two  farthings,  are  very 
small  things  for  the  Lord  to  remember.  The 
hairs  of  the  head  are  very  small  things  to  be 
counted  by  God,  But  if  even  these  are  under 
his  immediate  observation,  surely  man  must  be. 
This  was  a  doctrine  that  no  follower  of  Christ 
must  denv.  So  He  referred  them  to  the  birds  of 
the  air,  which  sow  not,  neither  reap  nor  gather 
into  barns.  He  pointed  to  the  lilies  of  the  field, 
which  neither  toil  nor  spin.  Yet  the  birds  are 
bountifully  fed,  and  the  lilies  are  beautifully 
clothed,  bv  Him  who  is  the  Father  of  all.  Since 
each  lily  and  bird,  in  each  moment  of  its  little 
life,  is  watched  so  carefully  by  the  Lord's  prov- 
idence, who  shall  say  that  the  least  of  men,  in 
the  least  act  or  event  of  his  life,  is  forgotten  by 
Him  ? 

Such  is  the  divine  truth.  And  the  Christian 
who  does  not  recognize  this  divine  care  in  each 
and  every  least  affair  of  each  and  every  human 
life,  is  not  penetrated  by  the  philosophy  of  Jesus. 
And  the  Christian  who  does  not  know  that  this 
doctrine  is  universally  recognized  in  Scripture  as 
a  central  truth,  has  scarcely  taken  his  first  lesson 
in  the  teachings  of  Christ  or  his  religion. 


The  Flaming  Sicord.  131 

Now  when  the  early  race  of  mankind,  called 
Adam,  had  departed  from  the  state  of  purity, 
love,  intelligence  and  happiness,  denominated  the 
Garden  of  Eden  ;  when,  by  becoming  sensual  and 
selfish  they  had  lost  or  been  driven  out  of  that 
glorious  state  of  which  Eden  was  the  symbol  and 
synonym  ;  then  the  providence  of  God,  ever  mer- 
ciful and  loving — the  same  providence  which  mak- 
eth  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good 
alike,  and  sendeth  his  rain  equally  on  the  just  and 
on  the  unjust,  followed  them  out  of  Eden  and  into 
banishment. 

Providence  is  not  only  in  heaven ;  it  is  also  in 
hell.  It  not  only  gives  good  to  the  good,  but  it 
restrains  the  evil  from  evil.  It  has  no  resentments, 
no  wounded  pride,  no  human  passion.  It  works 
for  all  men,  and  for  their  greatest  good  and  happi- 
ness. In  Eden  or  out,  it  will  do  for  each  one  that 
which  will  make  him  the  best  and  happiest  man  it 
is  possible  for  him  to  be  on  his  own  chosen  plane. 
In  Eden  its  ministries  are  ineffably  tender  and 
sweet.  Out  of  Eden  they  do  not  seem  so,  only 
because  they  flow  into  perverted  hearts  and  minds. 
Yet,  even  there,  it  will  so  modify  and  control  cir- 
cumstances, not  infrino-inir  human  freedom,  as  to 
lead  man  to  be  as  good  as  he  is  willing  to  be,  and 
to  withhold  him  as  far  as  possible  from  sinking 
into  lower  depths  of  iniquity. 

This  providence  of  the  Lord  is  represented  by 


V 

132  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

the  cherubim.  The  cherubim,  as  known  in  ancient 
symbolism,  were  figures  with  human  faces,  out- 
spread wings,  and  bodies  either  animal  or  human. 
They  are  nowhere  specificall}^  described  in  Scrip- 
ture, so  that  their  exact  form  is  matter  of  specu- 
lation. '  But  the  figures  exhibited  for  cherubim  in 
the  pictures  of  the  old  masters — infant  faces  w'ith 
wings  attached — find  no  w^arrant  in  the  Bible. 
From  what  is  there  said,  we  know,  at  least,  that 
they  were  perfect  though  mingled  figures ;  and 
that  so  far  from  being  ludicrous,  as  tradition  w^ould 
make  them,  they  were  sublime  in  conception  and 
beautiful  in  form.  The  cherubim  are  frequently 
mentioned  in  holy  Writ,  ne^er,  however,  as  a  race 
of  supernatural  beings,  as  has  sometimes  been 
imagined,  but  always  as  symbols. 

To  mention  but  a  single  instance.  It  was  com- 
manded that  cherubim  should  be  placed  on  the 
mercy  seat  over  the  ark,  over  the  curtains  of  the 
tabernacle,  over  the  vail  and  also  in  the  temple,  to 
signify  that  the  Lord  had  them  all  in  his  keeping; 
that  He  watched  over  them  continually ;  that  in 
all  the  wanderings  and  wars  of  Israel,  wherever 
they  w^ent  and  wherever  they  stayed,  his  unwearied 
charge  over  them  never  relaxed. 

But  all  these  things — the  ark  which  contained 
the  Ten  Commandments,  the  mercy  seat  upon 
which  the  cherubim  stood,  the  curtains,  the  vail, 
the  tabernacle  and  temple  themselves,  mere  forms 


The  Flaming  Sword.  133 

and  containants,  as  they  were,  of  outward  wor- 
ship— were  symbolic  of  the  various  things  of  in- 
ternal and  spiritual  worship  yet  to  be  developed 
in  the  Christian  Church. 

But  Christian  worship  in  its  highest  sense  is 
Christian  life.  Thus  the  sublime  truth  was'figured 
forth  in  these  as  representatives,  that  the  provi- 
dence of  the  Lord  broods,  as  it  were,  with  beaming 
countenance  and  watchful  eyes  and  outstretched 
wings,  over  every  human  life  and  heart,  in  all  its 
worship,  ways  and  wanderings.  The  face  of  the 
cherub  was  representative  of  the  Lord's  love  and 
circumspection  ;  the  body,  of  his  power  and  pres- 
ence ;  the  outstretched  wings,  of  his  having  them, 
after  the  beautiful  similitude  of  the  birds  with  their 
young,  under  his  overshadowing  and  tender  care  ; 
its  standing  on  the  mercy  seat,  the  constant  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord  in  all  human  affairs  with  infinite 
compassion,  gentleness  and  love. 

As,  therefore,  the  cherubim  are  referred  to  in 
all  other  portions  of  the  Word  as  symbolic  forms 
ouly,  and  not  as  supernatural  beings,  so  must  it 
have  been  in  Genesis.  In  the  description  of  the 
tabernacle  and  temple  with  their  furniture  and 
worship,  we  have  an  account  of  things  actually 
made  and  once  historically  existent.  The  cheru- 
bim were  beautifully  carved  figures  placed  in  the 
positions  to  which  they  v\^ere  assigned  by  divine 
command  as  representative  of  spiritual  things, 
12 


134  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

But  ill  the  narrative  of  Eden  we  have  pure  alle- 
gory, with  little  if  any  historical  basis  of  literal 
fact.  Yet  the  cherubim  here  have  the  same  mean- 
ing. Their  insertion  into  the  divine  allegory  was 
for  the  purpose  of  shadowing  forth  the  doctrine 
of  an  immediate  and  universal  Providence.  It 
was  not  intended  to  indicate  that  any  particular 
race  of  supernatural  beings  were  detailed,  like  the 
picket  guards  of  an  army,  to  protect  the  natural 
spot  where  stood  the  sacred  tree  of  life.  But  it 
was  designed  to  convey  the  lesson  of  an  ever- 
watchful  Providence.  It  teaches  it  on  the  same 
principle  and  after  the  same  manner  as  did  the 
outspread  wings  and  heavenly  countenance  which 
covered  over  and  looked  down  upon  the  ark  of  the 
covenant.  It  kept  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life  by 
preventing  the  vicious,  the  sensual,  and  the  selfish 
from  understanding  the  doctrine  of  love,  from 
appreciating  the  wisdom  of  a  holy  life,  and  from 
knowing  the  exquisite  nature  of  Eden's  happi- 
ness ;  lest,  understanding,  appreciating  and  know- 
ing, they  should  profane  them,  and  thereby  seal 
for  themselves  a  yet  more  bitter  doom. 

And  the  cherubim  still  guard  the  tree  of  life. 
It  is  the  same  to-day,  and  so  will  always  be.  The 
profane  cannot  see  God ;  the  earthly  have  no 
relish  for  heavenly  joy  ;  the  intensely  selfish  do 
not  believe  in  disinterestedness ;  the  grossly  im- 
pure contend  that  purity  of  heart  does  not  exist ; 


The  Flaming  Sword.  135 

the  sensual  admit  not  for  a  moment  any  wisdom 
that  lifts  one's  view  above  the  senses.  The 
materialist  is  chained  to  matter ;  the  heathen  ac- 
knowledges no  Christ ;  the  idolater  is  joined  to 
his  idols.  Brutalism  and  barbarism  have  no  idea 
what  spiritualit}'  means ;  if  they  make  pretence 
of  being  converted,  they  accept  the  name  of  Chris- 
tianity only,  but  do  not  get  the  real  thing.  The 
Lord's  providence  allows  no  man  to  receive  more 
or  higher  truth  than  he  is  prepared  to  live.  We 
wonder  at  the  slow  progress  of  the  nations  from 
heathenism  to  Christianity ;  it  is  the  cherubim 
guarding  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life.  We  Wonder 
that  so  few  accept  the  higher  views  of  Christianity 
revealed  by  the  Lord  through  Swedenborg  ;  again 
it  is  the  cherubim  guarding  the  way  of  the  tree 
of  life.  The  heathen  will  be  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  Christians'  will  accept  more  spiritual 
views  of  our  religion,  as  they  are  seen  in  the 
Lord's  providence  to  be  ready,  at  least,  to  try  to 
enter  into  its  spirit  and  life. 

But  the  cherubim,  or  Providence  and  its  minis- 
tries, w^ill  hasten  slowly  in  spite  of  the  unrest  of 
man.  The  tree  of  life  will  be  guarded  from  prof- 
anation for  men's  own  benefit,  until  they  can 
safelv  take  of  it,  and  eat  of  its  fruit  without 
danger  of  profanation.  And  though  we  may  be 
nominal  Christians,  or  nominal  receivers  of  the 
higher  views  of  Christian  truth,  lip-service  is  not 


136  The  Garden  of  Eden, 

necessarily  heart-service,  nor  is  outward  pro- 
fession always  accompanied  by  inward  percep- 
tion. And  with  lips  overflowing  with  creeds,  and 
memories  stored  with  formulated  statements  of 
the  highest  truths,  men  may  still  imagine  them- 
selves to  he  eating  of  the  tree  of  life,  while  the 
cherubim  stand,  with  mercy  and  love,  between 
them  and  this  sacred  tree,  lest  really  partaking  of 
its  fruit. they  should  profane. 

For  the  purpose  of  the  allegory,  a  more  strictly 
literal  rendering  of  the  Hebrew  text  is  preferable 
to  that  of  the  authorized  version.  A  high 
authority  renders  it  thus :  ''  And  he  [the  Lord] 
made  cherubim  from  the  east  to  dwell  at  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  and  the  flame  of  a  sword  turn- 
ing itself  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life." 
The  east  is  the  symbol  of  the  peculiar  dwelling- 
place  of  the  Lord,  thus  of  the  Lord  himself 
What  is  from  the  east  is  from  the  Lord  ;  what  is 
in  the  east  is  spiritually  near  to  the  Lord.  He 
who  faces  the  east,  faces  the  Lord ;  that  is,  in  his 
heart  he  looks  to  the  Lord.  So  the  Lord  made 
cherubim  from  the  east,  that  is,  a  providence 
which  is  peculiarly  his  own  or  from  Himself,  to 
dwell,  or  be  perpetually  operative,  at  the  entrance 
of  the  Eden  of  the  heart,  to  keep  the  way  of  the 
tree  of  life,  and  preserve  it  from  profanation. 

But  there  was  another  provision  of  Providence 
to  this   end,   expressed   in   the   correspondential 


The  Flaming  Sword.  137 

language  of  the  text.  There  was,  to  use  the 
more  exact  version  above  gh^en,  *'  the  flame  of  a 
sword  turning  itself,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree 
of  life."  Had  this  been  a  literal  garden  and  its 
sacred  tree  a  literal  tree,  one  would  imagine  that 
its  obliteration  from  the  '  earth  were  sufficient 
without  literal  guards  or  the  flame  of  a  literal 
sword.  But  as  Eden  is  the  state  of  celestial  love 
and  intelligence,  and  the  tree  of  life,  the  Lord 
as  their  source  and  supply,  spiritual  provision  is 
needed  to  keep  from  its  sacred  precincts  the  sen- 
sual and  profane  until  they  are  prepared  to  par- 
take of  its  fruit  without  profaning.  Everywhere 
in  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  the  burning  lusts  of  un- 
regenerate  hearts  are  likened  to  fire  and  flame.  The 
flames  of  hell  are  but  the  blazinc:  fires  of  self-love, 
of  passion  and  pride,  enmity  and  envy,  gluttony 
and  debauchery,  whatever  burns  in  infernal  breasts. 
Whatever  is  of  self  or  self-derived  inicliigence, 
flames  up  as  from  a  furnace  of  lust  within  the 
heart,  whenever  it  is  stirred  into  activitv. 

The  sword,  in  the  symbolism  of  the  Word,  is 
used  to  denote  the  divine  truth,  which,  keen- 
edged  and  polished  in  the  hands  of  him  who 
knows  how  to  wield  it,  cuts  its  way  through 
error  and  delusion,  and  destroys,  in  its  victorious 
progress,  the  sophistries  of  sensuous  reason  and 
the  armies  of  infernal  persuasions.  But  in  its 
opposite  sense  it  is  the  symbol  of  falsity  warring 
12- 


138  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

against  truth  and  good.  This  is  its  meaning  here. 
The  flame  of  a  sword  turning  itself,  is  self-love 
blazing  forth  with  its  false  persuasions,  and  turn- 
ing every  way  for  strength  and  confirmation.  For 
when  self-love  with  its  attending  satellites,  evils 
of  every  kind,  once  finds  permanent  lodging  w^ithin 
the  heart,  it  soon  persuades  that  heart  that  all  is 
right.  It  turns  in  every  direction  or  to  every 
method  of  reasoning,  to  confirm  the  man  in  his 
chosen  position.  No  falsity  is  too  false  for  its 
purpose  ;  no  turning  from  truth  can  turn  too  far 
to  accomplish  its  end ;  and  no  rankling  lust  of 
self-love  can  flame  too  high  or  burn  too  brightly 
to  gratify  its  passion. 

Now^  self-love  flaming  w^ith  false  persuasions,  is 
used  by  Providence  as  one  of  the  most  efficient 
guards  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life.  The 
object  sought  is,  that  wicked  minds  shall  not  in- 
teriorly comprehend  the  life  and  love  of  God. 
This  is  for  tw^o  reasons :  One,  as  we  have  shown, 
is,  that  to  interiorly  comprehend  and  yet  to  live  in 
willful  disobedience,  is  profanation — the  one  un- 
pardonable sin.  The  sin  is  unpardonable,  how- 
ever, not  through  lack  of  mercy  in  the  Lord,  but 
through  its  so  searing  the  soul  as  to  leave  it  in 
spiritual  ruin.  The  other  is,  that  a  confirmed  love 
of  evil,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  full  measure  of 
happiness  lost,  would,  to  the  spirit  who  has  sunk 
beyond  recovery,  be  everlasting  misery. 


The  Flaming  Sword.  139 

Now  hell  exists  because  men  have  chosen  wick-* 
edness  ;  yet  there  is  mercy  there.  God  is  mercy 
itself,  and  He  descends  not  into  hell  with  inverted 
nature.  Where  there  is  no  reform  there  is  no 
endless  torture.  But  an  appreciation  of  heavenly 
joy  and  an  eternal  knowledge  of  an  everlasting- 
loss  of  bliss  like  this,  would  be  unceasing  pain.  A 
conscience  forever  torturing  itself  over  what  might 
have  been,  having  a  constant  and  realizing  convic- 
tion of  its  loss,  would  be  unremitting  agony.  A 
devil  is  a  devil  because  he  has  lost  his  apprecia- 
tion of  love,  of  heaven  and  of  heavenly  bliss ; — 
because  his  conscience  is  blasted  through  willful 
and  continual  sin. 

So  the  flame  of  the  sword  turnino:  itself  in  the 
heart,  self-love  and  sensualism  flaming  with  false 
persuasions,  keeps  man  back  from  reaching  for  the 
tree  of  life  and  profaning  its  fruit ;  and  this, 
because  self-love  does  not  appreciate  the  tree  of  life, 
deeming  the  fruit  of  the  forbidden  tree  in  all  re- 
spects infinitely  superior  to  it.  It  is  only  as  self- 
love  ceases  to  be  itself,  and  that  the  love  of  God 
and  good  takes  its  place,  that  the  joy  of  Eden  and 
heaven  is  seen  and  sought.  But  after  death, 
when  conscience  is  lost  and  evil  is  become  the 
rooted  love  of  the  soul,  the  happiness  of  heaven  is 
a  thing  impossible  to  be  known  ;  and  if  approached 
it  is  felt  as  something  repulsive  and  painful. 

So  no  devil  could  seek  to  enter  the  Eden  of  the 


m^^wms 


140  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

other  world  either  to  disturb  its  inhabitants  or 
profane  its  life,  because  self-love  turns  him  in- 
stinctively away.  He  is  happier  elsewhere.  It 
is,  from  a  heavenly  point  of  view,  a  wretched  kind 
of  happiness ;  nevertheless  it  is  his,  and  the  merciful 
Lord  would  keep  all  as  happy  as  He  can.  So  the 
flame  of  the  sword  which  turns  itself,  is  made  to 
keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life.  So  Providence 
protects  man's  Eden  everywhere,  and  the  very 
best  is  done  for  all. 

Such  is  the  lesson  of  the  text.  It  teaches  a 
doctrine  that  justifies  the  ways  of  God  with  man. 
He  is  infinite  mercy  and  love  in  all  his  appoint- 
ments and  doings.  He  is  tender  with  the  meanest 
human  being  that  forfeits  the  sublime  destiny  for 
v/hich  he  was  created.  He  is  always  with  us  all. 
He  goes  with  us  everywhere.  He  sympathizes 
with  every  noble  aspiration  and  heroic  struggle. 
He  tries  to  turn  our  errors  into  wise  and  useful 
lessons.  If  we  sink  into  self,  He  follows  us  with 
healing  balms  for  every  wound.  If  we  sink 
beyond  recall.  He  softens  even  the  saddest  fall. 
If  we  rise  toward  heaven.  He  bears  us  up  with 
tender  hands.  If  we  throw  ourselves  into  his 
lovino'  arms,  He  will  hold  us  there  forever.  The 
cherubim  spread  their  broad  protecting  wings 
over  all,  and  even  the  flame  of  the  turning  sword 
has  its  lesson  of  love. 


IX. 


THE  RESTORATION. 

And  he  showed  me  a  pure  river  of  water 
of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of 
the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  In 
the  midst  of  the  street  of  it,  and  on  either 
side  of  tiie  river,  was  there  tlie  tree  of  life, 
which  hare  twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and 
yielded  her  fruit  every  month;  and  the 
leaves  of  Vie  tree  were  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations.  .  .  .  Blessed  are  they  that  do 
his  commandments,  that  they  may  have 
nght  to  the  tree  of  Ife,  aiid  may  enter  in 
through  the  gates  into  the  city.— Rev.  xxii. 
1,  2,  14. 
(^ 

S  the  Word  of  God,  in  recording  the  spir- 


itual history  of  man,  begins  by  placing  him 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  so  it  ends  by  restor- 
ing him  to  that  beautiful  dwelling-place  from 
whence,  through  sin,  he  was  driven.  Eden  is 
the  first  blessing  and  the  last  promise  which  the 
Lord  offers  to  man.  It  is  the  alpha  and  the  omega, 
the  beginning  and  the  end,  of  the  divine  alphabet 
of  human  holiness.  It  embraces  all  things  de- 
lightful and  pleasant,  all  things  wise  and  true, 
all  things  loving  and  good,  all  things  innocent 
and  pure.  But  as  the  Lord  looks  especially  to 
man's  eternal  good  and  not  to  his  temporal  suc- 
cess— to  that  other  world  w4iich  is  spiritual  and 
whose  joys  are  unending,  and  not  to  this  which 

141 


142  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

is  natural  and  whose  pleasures  are  transient — it  is 
evident  that  the  blessings  which  Eden  comprises 
must  be  of  a  spiritual  and  not  of  a  v/orldly  char- 
acter. This  realm  is  no  Mohammedan  paradise 
of  beautiful  houris,  delicious  perfumes,  voluptuous 
music,  and  other  sensual  delights.  It  is  that  gen- 
erous, pure  and  holy  state  of  the  soul  which  rests 
in  the  Lord,  which  takes  home  to  the  heart  the 
spiritual  life  that  He  has  taught,  and  which  JSnds 
its  chief  pleasure  and  delight  in  doing  good. 

AVe  fully  understand,  now,  that  Eden  is  a  state 
of  the  soul  and  not  a  natural  locality.  Were  it 
not  so,  we  could  not  approach  the  closing  chapter 
of  Scripture  with  any  just  appreciation  of  its 
meaning.  Like  the  great  I  AM  who  is  the  only 
God,  and  yet  is  called  by  many  names,  Jehovah, 
Jesus,  Christ  or  Lord,  Adonai  or  Immanuel,  so, 
in  a  large  sense,  there  is  only  one  spiritual  home 
for  man,  although  it  is  referred  to  or  spoken  of 
in  Scripture  under  many  names.  In  Isaiah  it 
is  called  Hcphzibah,  the  Lord's  delight,  and  also 
Beulah,  the  married  land.  In  many  places  it  is 
called  Jerusalem,  sometimes  Zion  ;  Jesus  preached 
it  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  John  described  it  as 
the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  descending  out  of 
heaven  from  God.  But  it  is  introduced  in  the 
early  chapters  of  Genesis  as  the  Garden  of  Eden 

Now  all  these  expressions  are  typical  of  a  spir- 
itual state  of  the  Church  or  of  man.     True,  Zion 


The  Bcstoratlon.  143 

and  Jerusalem  were  literal  localities  ;  but  they  are 
used  as  the  symbols  of  interior  states  of  purity, 
wisdom  and  love.  The  restoration  of  Zion  and 
Jerusalem  so  often  described  under  glowing  im- 
ao'erv,  is  but  the  restoration  of  Eden  under  another 
name.  It  is  not  natural  cities  in  their  pride  of 
numbers  and  outward  glory  concerning  vvhich  the 
Lord  is  solicitous,  so  much  as  it  is  a  spiritual  state 
of  his  Church.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  which 
Jesus  preached,  and  into  whose  courts  He  invited 
his  followers,  was  only  Eden  again  under  another 
name.  It  was  a  thing  of  the  heart,  and  He  so 
distinctly  stated.  "Neither,"  said  He,  "shall  ye 
say,  Lo,  here  !  or  Lo,  there  !  for  behold,  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you."  Charts  could  not 
place  it  nor  geographies  describe  it,  for  it  was  of 
the  spirit.  And,  given  this  kingdom  of  heaven 
full}'-  established  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men, 
then  was  the  whole  prophecy  fulfilled,  the  kingdom 
restored  to  Israel,  the  glory  to  Zion,  and  Jerusalem 
rebuilt ;  and  this,  though  the  children  of  Israel 
according  to  the  flesh,  were  dispersed  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth,  the  natural  Jerusalem 
a  heap  of  ruins,  and  the  literal  Zion  razed  to  its 
foundations.  »• 

It  is  even  so  with  the  Holy  City,  New  Jerusa- 
lem, which  was  to  descend  out  of  heaven  from 
God.  As  heaven  in  the  Scriptural  view  is  a  spir- 
itual realm,  whatever  descends  from  thence  must 


144  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

be  spiritual  in  its  character.  It  is  not  visible  to 
outward  sight ;  it  comes  to  us  within.  And  the 
New  Jerusalem  is  but  another  term  for  Eden.  It 
is  a  new  dispensation  of  light  and  love.  It  is  the 
doctrine  of  Eden  retaught  and  the  life  of  Eden 
restored.  If  we  cannot  see  this  by  intuition,  there 
is  one  fact  which  shows  it  clearlv ;  it  is  that  the 
peculiarities  of  Eden  reappear  in  the  New  Jeru- 
salem. When  John  in  vision  looked  up,  he  saw 
a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  pro- 
ceeding out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb. 
Natural  rivers  do  not  proceed  from  visible  thrones ; 
they  well  up  from  hidden  fountains  in  the  earth. 
This,  therefore,  is  the  same  river  under  a  different 
name,  which  went  forth  in  Eden.  It  is  the  same 
water  of  which  our  Lord  spake  when  He  said  to 
the  Samaritan  woman  at  Jacob's  well:  ''Whoso- 
ever shall  drink  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him 
shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give 
him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up 
into  everlasting  life."  That  was  the  new  truth 
of  the  Gospel  which,  inwardly  received,  would  be 
a  well  of  spiritual  wisdom  that  would  so  turn  the 
current  of  the  thoughts,  affections  and  desires,  as 
to  prove  a  fount  of  everlasting  life  to  whomsoever 
should  drink  it. 

Such  is  the  water  that  comes  from  above.  It 
is  spiritual  truth.  Such  was  the  water  that  flowed 
from    Eden.     Swch   is   that  which    in   the  New 


Tlte  liestoration.  145 

Jerusalem  descends  out  of  heaven  from  God. 
Can  we  have  any  truth  which  is  not  his  ?  Can 
we  have  any  enlightenment  except  from  Him? 
The  river  of  spiritual  wisdom,  in  its  refreshing-  of 
the  understanding  and  its  quickening  of  the  life, 
flows  always  from  Him.  It  is  the  river  of  Eden, 
the  water  of  life,  w^hose  fountaiu-head  is  the 
throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb.  It  flows  to  mind 
and  heart ;  and  it  gives  to  him  who  receives  it 
the  power  to  live  an  intelligently  holy  life,  and  to 
perform  the  duties  of  existence  not  only  in  a 
rational  way,  but  in  the  spirit  and  faith  of  Him 
in  whose  name  it  is  done.  This  living  water  is 
''clear  as  crystal."  There  is  nothing  so  clear  to 
the  receptive  mind  as  spiritual  truth.  The  natural 
mind  does  not  think  so ;  but  that  does  not  alter 
the  fact.  The  sun  is  not  clearer  in  its  shining-, 
than  the  apprehension  of  divine  truth  by  the 
spiritually  awakened  intellect.  But  as  the  facul- 
ties suited  to  the  apprehension  of  mathematics, 
or  music,  or  poetry,  must  be  aroused  before  their 
higher  truths  become  clear  or  cognizable,  so  must 
it  be  with  truths  of  spiritual  wisdom.  Without 
the  proper  quickening  of  the  spiritual  faculties, 
these  truths  will  remain  obscure  or  altogether 
unseen ;  with  it,  they  will  be  pellucid  as  the 
mountain  spring  ;  clear  as  transparent  crystal. 

But  in  the  Holy  City  was  to  be  reproduced 
another   feature  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  a 
13  K 


lUSi^ 


146  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

central  one.  "  In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  it 
and  of  the  river,  on  this  side  and  on  that,  was 
the  tree  of  life."  I  give  the  literal  rendering  of 
the  original  Greek,  as  preferable  to  the  authorized 
version.  This  tree  of  life  fixes  the  New  Jerusalem 
as  Eden  restored.  There  is  but  one  tree  of  life. 
It  grew  in  the  midst  of  the  ancient  garden,  and 
it  will  grow  again,  not  only  in  the  midst  of  the 
street  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  but  in  the  midst  of 
its  river  and  on  this  side  and  on  that.  And  the 
promise  had  already  been  recorded,  ''  To  him  that 
overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life 
which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God  " 
(Rev.  ii.  V).  It  is  not  which  teas  in  the  midst  of 
paradise,  nor  which  will  be  there,  but  which  is. 
The  tree  of  life  is  of  perennial  growth.  It 
always  is  ;  it  always  was  ;  it  always  will  be.  It 
grows  ever  ready  for  the  acceptance  of  man.  The 
gates  of  paradise  are  perpetually  open  for  the 
entrance  of  all,  and  the  sacred  tree  forever  stands 
laden  with  fruit  for  the  sustenance  of  every 
hungry  soul.  But  the  profane  cannot  see  it,  and 
they  think  it  does  not  exist.  For  them  it  does 
not ;  for  the  wise  and  intelligent  it  does. 

Paradise  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Call  it  by 
what  name  the  Scripture  may,  Eden  or  the  New 
Jerusalem,  the  tree  of  life  grows  in  the  midst  of 
it ;  and  without  that  tree,  it  is  not  paradise  at 
all.     For  the  tree  of  life,  as  we  have  often  said 


'rfte  Restoration,  147 

and  shown,  is  the  Lord  as  the  central  love  and  life 
of  the  soul.  Now,  having  this  and  partaking  of 
the  fruit  of  this  tree,  man  is  in  Eden,  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  in  the  Xew  Jerusalem,  no  matter 
what  the  age  of  the  world  or  where  his  dwelling 
place  may  be. 

Yet  these  expressions,  though  s^monymous  in 
a  general  sense,  in  a  specific  sense,  especially  as 
prophetic  of  different  ages  of  the  Church,  have  a 
somewhat  different  meaning.  Eden  refers,  in  a 
strict  sense,  to  that  state  of  innocent  perfection 
of  life  w4iich  was  characteristic  of  the  most  ancient 
Church.  It  was,  in  its  goodness  and  wisdom,  of 
that  peculiarly  infantile  or  tender  genius,  which 
is  past  and  gone  and  which  can  never  on  earth  be 
exactly  reproduced.  The  New  Jerusalem  is  more 
properly  that  state  of  heavenly  perfection  in  the 
Church  at  large,  or  in  the  individual  heart,  which 
has  been  attained  through  severe  conflict  Avith 
evil  in  emerging  from  the  baptism  of  hell.  It  will 
be  compatible  with  the  knowledge  and  possession 
of  natural  science,  art  and  luxury,  to  which  those 
primitive  people  were  strangers.  It  will,  there- 
fore, have  a  broader  basis  of  natural  knowledge. 
The  two  are  similar  states,  but  developed  under 
different  circumstances.  This  truth  is  alluded  to 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  note  of  the  fact,  that 
when  different  expressions  are  used  in  Scripture 
for- a  similar  idea,  though  they  mean  the  same 


148  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

thing,  they  mean  it  under  different  phases.  Thus 
while  the  New  Jerusalem  is  a  restoration  of  Eden, 
it  will  be  of  a  different  genius  from  the  ancient 
Eden,  because  the  people  of  whom  it  is  to  be 
composed  yAW  be  of  a  different  character,  though 
of.  equal  perfection.  Yet  it  is  not  improper  to 
use  the  term  Eden,  or  any  other  Scripture  term 
for  the  state  implied  by  it,  to  describe  the  state  of 
hearts  and  lives  to-day  that  have  attained  to  it, 
because  all  Scripture  is  applicable  to  all  ages  and 
to  all  hearts. 

This  tree  of  life — the  Lord  with  his  matchless 
love — grows  in  the  midst  of  the  street  of  the  New 
Jerusalem.  The  street,  or  to  use  a  more  common 
phrase,  the  way  or  path  of  life,  is  the  truth  by 
means  of  which  we  walk.  When  our  Lord  says, 
''  I  will  show  thee  the  path  of  life,"  He  means 
that  He  will  point  out  to  us  the  heavenly  truths 
which  shall  constitute  our  daily  walk,  or  show  us 
how  to  live.  The  street  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
may  just  as  well  be  translated  its  path.  The  tree 
of  life  is  said,  therefore,  to  grow  in  the  midst  of 
its  street,  because  the  Lord  as  love  (or  the  love 
of  the  Lord)  is  the  central  principle  of  life  to 
whomsoever  comes  to  dwell  in  the  New  Jerusalem. 
All  his  life-Avalk  turns  to  it ;  all  his  desires  and  af- 
fections look  to  it.  It  is  never  out  of  his  sight. 
It  is  before  him  whithersoever  his  steps  tend,  and 
in  the  very  midst  of  his  path.  •     . 


The  Restoration,  149 

The  tree  of  life  was  in  the  midst  of  the  river 
also.  This  is  a  curious  expression  from  a  natural 
point  of  view,  but  a  beautiful  one  spiritually  con- 
sidered ;  for  it  indicates  that  the  Lord  as  love,  is 
not  only  the  central  principle  in  the  mind,  and 
consequently  in  the  path  of  life,  of  all  the  dwellers 
in  the  New  Jerusalem,  but  that  He  is  the  central 
point  (in  the  midst  or  center)  of  all  their  spiritual 
wisdom.  The  river  of  water  of  life,  is  the  wis- 
dom of  life  made  manifest  to  the  mind  as  it  flows 
into  the  understanding  from  the  Lord  ;  and  God 
and  the  Lamb — the  invisible  Divinity  and  the 
Divine  Humanity — are  the  center  of  it.  It  all 
comes  from  the  Lord — the  glorified  Christ ;  it  all 
looks  to  Him  ;  it  regards  Him  in  every  turning 
of  the  thought.  All  principles,  all  truths,  are 
Sowings  forth  from  Him,  and  bear  his  image  and 
superscription.  The  mind  which,  in  all  its  medi- 
tations, never  loses  sight  of  the  Lord  as  its  central 
light  and  warmth,  is  the  one  in  the  midst  of  whose 
river  of  water  of  life,  as  it  proceeds  from  the 
throne  of  God,  the  tree  of  life  forever  stands. 

And  it  is  ''  on  this  side  and  on  that."  It  is  to 
the  right  and  the  left ;  in  heavenly  considerations 
and  earthly  ;  in  states  of  light  and  in  those  of 
obscurity  ;  at  church  and  at  work.  Under  all  cir- 
cumstances the  tree  of  life  is  before  the  eyes, 
forming  a  part  of  every  thought,  entering  into 
every  motive,  guiding  in  every  act.  *'  Guiding," 
13^ 


w:suii.-- 


150  The  Garden  of  Eden, 

we  say,  "in  every  act,"  because  it  bare  twelve 
manner  of  fruits.  Twelve  is  a  symbol  employed 
when  it  is  intended  that  the  expression  shall  be 
all-embracing.  Twelve  manner  of  fruits  is  every 
kind  of  fruit  which  the  tree  of  life  is  capable  of 
producing.  The  fruits  are  good  works.  He  in 
whose  heart  the  tree  of  life  is  planted,  bearing  its 
twelve  manner  of  fruits,  is  he  who  in  all  his  works 
bears  heavenly  fruit,  and  all  whose  deeds  are 
good.  It  is  he,  the  entire  works  of  whose  life  are 
the  fruits  of  love — of  that  love  whose  center  and 
source  is  the  Lord ;  of  love  which  is  all-embracing 
in  its  character ;  of  love  which  is  holy,  pure,  un- 
selfish, overflowing  with  benevolence  to  all  man- 
kind. 

Such  a  tree  when  planted  in  the  heart,  ''  yields 
its  fruit  every  month ;"  because  the  Lord's  love, 
when  it  is  the  soul's  animating  principle,  produces 
works  that  are  genuinely  good  in  every  changing 
state.  "  And  the  leaves  of  the  tree  are  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations."  Leaves  signify  the 
thoughts  or  rational  intuitions  of  man  ;  and  the 
leaves  of  the  tree  of  life,  or  the  thoughts  of  those 
in  whom  the  love  of  the  Lord  is  the  ruling  prin- 
ciple, are  all  good  and  for  the  good  of  all  man- 
kind— for  the  healing  of  the  spiritual  diseases  of 
themselves  and  all  the  world. 

And  how  beautifully  comes  in  the  declaration, 
"  Blessed   are  they  that   do  his  commandments, 


The  Restoration,  151 

that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree. of  life,  and 
may  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city."  Is 
it  not  wonderful  how  many  different  ways  have 
been  held  as  essential  to  the  obtaining  of  salva- 
tion ?  Yet  we  have  it  here  in  its  perfection. 
Who  obtain  it  ?  They  who  do  the  Lord's  com- 
mandments. Simple,  brief,  and  clear  I  Yet  it 
has  been  said  that  no  one  can  keep  the  command- 
ments ;  and  that,  therefore,  faith  alone  is  the  way 
to  salvation.  But  the  tree  of  life  is  the  Lord  our 
love.  That  is  what  we  need ;  that  is  what  we 
must  receive.  That  is  innocence,  purity,  bliss — 
the  sum  of  all  faith,  hope  and  charity.  That  is 
salvation  and  eternal  life.  That  is  Eden,  Beulah, 
Zion,  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  New  Jerusalem. 
And  the  way  to  it  is,  doing  the  Lord^s  command- 
ments. 

This  is  only  a  repetition  of  the  Lord's  words, 
''  He  that  hath  my  commandments  and  keepeth 
them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me."  Paul  had  grasped 
the  truth  when  he  said,  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law."  Eden  Avas  lost  by  breaking  the  com- 
mandments ;  it  will  be  regained  by  keeping  them. 
The  cherubim  guard  the  tree  of  life  from  the  hands 
of  the  profane.  The  flame  of  the  sword,  or  the 
self-love  of  man  himself,  protects  it  from  the  touch 
of  sensualism  by  rendering  it  unappreciated  and 
unknown.  But  it  is  gained  again,  and  our  right 
to  it  is  re-established,  by  the  persistent  effort  to 


TT 


152  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

obey  the  I^ord's  commands,  or  to  live  the  life 
that  He  has  taught  us  in  his  Word. 

Is  it  true  that  we  cannot  keep  the  command- 
ments ?  We  cannot,  indeed,  keep  them  of  our- 
selves, or  in  our  own  strength.  But  it  is  ours  to 
make  the  effort,  and  it  is  the  Lord's  to  furnish  the 
power.  If  we  make  the  effort  in  earnest,  the 
power  is  always  sure  to  be  supplied.  If  we  lift 
no  hand,  make  no  exertion,  raise  no  prayer,  no 
strength  comes.  The  Lord  flows  always  into 
active,  never  into  passive  agencies.  Man  is  like 
the  flowers.  As  they  hold  up  their  modest  cups 
to  receive  the  refreshing  dew  and  the  light  of  the 
morning  sun,  so  must  he  look  up,  open  his  heart 
to  the  sweet  influence  of  heaven,  will  to  do  the 
right  as  of  himself,  and  then  the  Lord  flows  in 
with  invigorating  power.  We  can  keep  the  com- 
mandments ;  yet  not  in  our  own  strength,  for  we 
have  none.  But  we  can  if  we  seek  the  Lord's 
strength  ;  for  He  is  the  fullness  of  strength,  and 
is  ever  ready  and  waiting  to  give  us  all  we  ask 
or  really  need. 

Briefly  to  sum  up  what  has  been  said  in  these 
discourses  about  the  Garden  of  Eden,  as  viewed 
in  its  true  spirit  and  interpreted  by  the  science  of 
correspondences : 

When  the  Lord  created  man  at  the  first.  He 
raised  him  up  into  a  condition  of  love,  purity, 
innocence,  spiritual   intelligence   and   happiness. 


TliC  Restoration.  158 

This  state  of  life  is  called  in  his  holy  Word,  the 
Garden  of  Eden.  He  placed  in  the  midst  of  this 
garden — in  the  inmost  of  man's  soul — the  tree  of 
life,  which  was  Himself  as  the  only  love  and  life 
of  man.  To  eat  of  this  tree  was  to  live  in  love 
to  Him  derived  from  Him.  But  he  also  endowed 
man  with  the  gift  of  freedom ;  because,  not  to  be 
free  was  not  to  be  man.  In  his  freedom,  and  thus 
of  his  own  motion,  man,  after  a  long  period  of 
happiness,  turned  from  the  Lord  and  his  love,  and 
began  to  live  for  self  and  from  the  love  of  self. 
This  was  eating  of  a  tree,  or  living  from  a  prin- 
ciple, of  which  the  Lord  had  bidden  him  not  to 
eat.  It  w^as  the  sensual  principle,  under  the 
symbol  of  the  serpent,  which  seduced  him.  Then 
man  lost  his  blissful  Eden,  because  he  had  departed 
from  the  Eden  state  ;  and  losing  that,  he  lost  the 
spiritual  wisdom  w^hich  belonged  to  it,  and  finally 
all  knowledge  that  it  ever  was,  and  even  the  con- 
ception that  it  could  be.  So  the  race  for  long 
centuries  groped  in  darkness,  all  oblivious  of 
things  spiritual  and  divine. 

True,  the  lamp  was  lighted  and  kept  blazing  in 
the  inspired  Word.  But  men's  eyes  were  closed 
to  its  heavenly  effulgence.  The  Word  was  a  light 
shining  upon  closed  and  darkened  minds  that  did 
not  comprehend  its  meaning.  "  The  light  shone 
in  darkness,  but  the  darkness  comprehended  it 
not."     Our  Lord  came  upon  earth  to  show^  man 


154  The  Garden  of  Eden. 

the  way  back,  and  encourage  and  assist  him  to 
return  to  his  lost  Eden.  He  was  received  by  a 
few,  yet  bis  teachings  were  but  partial!}"  com- 
prehended and  dimly  discerned.  He  has  waited 
with  mercy  and  long  suffering  for  man — waited 
for  him  to  develop  into  a.  state  wherein  he  could 
receive  the  divine  words  in  their  true  spiritual 
meaning.  Then  He  raised  up  a  messenger, 
Emanuel  Swedenborg,  whom  He  illumined  with 
his  wisdom,  to  reveal  the  mysterv  of  Eden,  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  of  the  New  Jerusalem  ; 
to  unfold  in  greater  fulhiess  the  true  nature  of  that 
wondrous  spiritual  life  set  forth  in  the  divine 
Word  for  the  restoration  of  man,  and  to  make 
plain  the  true  spirit  of  all  He  had  hitherto  taught. 

So  we  find  the  New  Jerusalem  of  divine 
promise,  to  be  but  paradise  restored.  The  rivers 
of  Eden  break  out  afresh  in  its  golden  streets ; 
the  tree  of  life  is  growing  by  its  river  of  living- 
water  ;  all  the  blessings  that  man  ever  enjoyed, 
shall  be  his  again;  all  love,  innocence,  purity, 
wisdom  and  happiness,  the  river  pure  as  crystal 
that  flows  from  the  throne  of  God,  the  tree  of 
life  with  its  healing  leaves  and  heavenly  fruit, 
will  he  but  keep  the  Lord's  commandments. 

The  invitation  is  full  and  free.  ''Whosoever 
will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely."  The 
water  of  life  is  the  truth  of  God's  holy  Word  ;— 
of  the  Word  as  apprehended,  not  in  the  obscurity 


The  Restoration.  155 

of  the  letter,  but  in  the  clear-shining  of  the  spirit. 
If  it  were  truth  only,  mere  knowledge  and  doc- 
trine, it  were  not  much.  But  there,  in  the  midst 
of  it,  is  the  life  itself.  There  is  the  Tree  of  Life, 
the  Lord  our  love ;  there  are  its  fruits  of  every 
hue ;  there  are  its  leaves  for  the  whole  world's 
healing.  And  they  are  all  parts  of  a  heavenly 
whole.  They  are  all  divine.  We  can  spare  no 
portion  of  them.  Doctrine  is  for  our  teaching ; 
but  we  are  taught  it  that  we  may  live  it.  Truth 
is  for  our  enlightenment ;  but  it  becomes  our  con- 
demnation if  we  fail  to  walk  in  the  light  of  it.  It 
is  only  by  living  or  doing  as  the  truth  requires, 
that  our  hearts  are  opened  to  the  reception  of  the 
fruit  of  that  immortal  tree  Avhich  is  forever  in  the 
midst  of  the  paradise  of  God. 

Well,  here  is  a  condition  of  life  we  all  ardently 
desire.  The  New^  Jerusalem  is  a  state  of  spiritual 
life  and  wisdom.  It  is  Eden  restored.  Its  joys 
are  for  both  worlds,  the  present  and  the  world  be- 
yond. Its  universal  attainment  will  banish  v/rong, 
disorder,  unrest,  sorrow  and  sighing,  from  the 
earth.  Its  attainment  by  each  heart,  will  banish 
them  from  thence.  And  when  we  ask,  Lord,  who 
shall  have  it  ?  the  answer  comes  echoing  through 
the  corridors  of  the  soul,  "  Whosoever  will !  " 

If  there  is  a  blessino:  that  is  w^orth  gainins',  it 
is  this ;  if  a  life  that  is  worth  living,  it  is  this ; 
if  a  peace  worth  striving  for,  it  is  this.    Shall  we 


f\. 


156 


The  Garden  of  Eden, 


not  take  the  lesson  to  our  hearts,  and  make  it  the 
theme  of  deep  and  solemn  reflection,  and  of  sin- 
cere and  earnest  prayer  ?  Shall  we  be  thought- 
less of  that  which  is  of  so  much  higher  import 
than  any  mere  w^orldly  things  ?  or  indifferent  to 
that  which  the  Lord  regards  as  worthy  our  su- 
preme effort  ?  Let  us  reflect.  Let  us  do  more, — ^ 
lift  up  our  hearts  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  pray 
that  we  may  be  more  earnest,  more  humble,  more 
devoted — more  believing,  loving  and  obedient. 


^ 
f^^^ 


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